Picture three little (make that “chubby”) county budgets named Westchester, Rockland and Putnam, each recently finished, each tied with ribbons, each nestled under a blanket, preparing to rest undisturbed throughout 2009. Then envision, oh, maybe 100 village, town, city and school districts in the Lower Hudson Valley going about their 2009 budget preparations.

Or maybe not so “undisturbed.” Coming soon to a government near you is a rude awakening. It starts Tuesday, when Gov. David Paterson releases his 2009 executive budget proposal. Through it, he will begin to attack what he has estimated to be a $47 billion state budget deficit accumulating in the next four years. New York’s 2009-10 budget year, which begins April 1, has a predicted deficit of $12.5 billion, to date the largest ever for the state. Its holes are attributed to a slew of economic disasters, including Wall Street’s meltdown, Main Street’s layoffs and resulting demand for services and entitlement programs. Deficits are projected to increase to $15.8 billion in 2010-11 and $17.2 billion in 2011-12…

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