The number two man in state government says New Yorkers should brace themselves for difficult financial times as Albany tries to dig out from under massive budget deficits. Our Bill Carey says the new Lieutenant Governor has new warnings about a plan to bridge a huge state budget gap.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Richard Ravitch has been busy in his new post, helping a Governor trying to come to grips with big budget problems. He broke away from the talks on a new round of spending cuts to visit with Syracuse business leaders. And the message he carried from Albany was clear.

"We face the most extraordinarily difficult budget crisis that this state has ever faced," Ravitch said.

Thus the plan for the Governor to unveil a host of cost reductions on Thursday.

Ravitch says the cuts are coming and they may be deeper than New York State has ever seen.

"Severe cuts in the executive branch of the government, asking every agency in the government to cut back significantly. There will be cuts across the board," said Ravitch.

Ravitch is hoping state legislators do what he calls the "responsible thing" and follow the tough path to fiscal austerity. Because, he notes, as deep as the new cuts will be, they are only the beginning.

"We face a staggering problem when this federal stimulus money comes to an end in December of 2010. The New York State budget falls off the cliff," Ravitch said.

And Ravitch says that will force the state to rethink the way it and its local governments operate. Finally forcing steps toward fewer layers of government in the future.

"For example, school consolidation. That has to happen. We have to eliminate all of the redundancies between county and state governments. We have to make the system more efficient," Ravitch said.

Too often, Ravitch says, New York State has put off the inevitable. Now, he says, it will have to act.

Once the Governor unveils his budget cutting plan, state legislators are expected to weigh in. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says he plans to stage public hearings across the state on the best ways to eliminate the deficits.