ALBANY – A number of county executives from around the state united by way of a conference call Thursday to urge the governor and state legislature to cut state spending without placing any additional burden on local taxpayers.

The county officials included Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who pointed out that Governor Paterson was in his county on Wednesday and promised no tax hikes.

“I think we should ask him to be clear about the fact that he was talking about the entire state and not just the state government, because there would be cost shifts as we have been saying it would raise our taxes,” he said.

The county officials, under the umbrella group New York State County Executives Association, proposed reducing or eliminating non-mandated aid to localities; reforming New York State Health Insurance Program payments and returning overpayments to participating agents; reforming early intervention funding; and reforming the Preschool Special Ed Reform, to reduce the cost and improve the overall effectiveness of the program.