POUGHKEEPSIE – State Assemblyman Joel Miller, a Republican from Poughkeepsie, Wednesday was critical of Governor Paterson’s announced $500 million in current year spending cuts in Albany.

Miller said they are too little too late when you look at the magnitude of the state’s deficit.

“It’s totally ridiculous that we waited until now to start looking at things we didn’t have to do and now we are not going to do them and save a half a billion dollars when, in fact, the state is almost $3 billion behind now, we borrowed money. This is a drop in the bucket,” he said.

The cuts include non-personal service (NPS) budget items which represent all operating costs outside of state employee salary payments and fringe benefits.

These NPS expenses include, among others, spending on travel, printing, vehicles, leases, energy, postage, consultant contracts, and equipment.

Commissioners were also told to use further employee attrition and severance payments beyond those assumed in their workforce reduction plans to lower payroll costs and help achieve their savings target.