The anticipated increase in taxpayer subsidies to the state pension system will mean an average property-tax increase of 10 percent or more by 2011 in most cities, the head of the state Conference of Mayor said today.

“The bigger the city, the more public-safety expenses, the higher those percentages will be,’’ said conference executive director Peter Baynes.

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced earlier today that an increase in pension contributions  from taxpayers by almost 50 percent may be needed starting in 2011 because of record investment losses by the pension fund’s investments last year.

Baynes said the Legislature should adopt a proposal by Gov. Paterson to raise the minimum retirement age for public workers and make them contribute to their pensions for their whole working careers. Now they don’t make contributions after 10 yers on the job.

The value of assets held by the state pension fund plunged 26 percent last year, to $109.9 billion, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said today.

The drop will mean higher contributions from taxpayers will be needed in 2011 to keep paying pension benefits to retirees of state and local governments, he said.

He attributed the drop to the international economic downturn.

“Like everyone who has seen the value of their investments decline, we’ve felt the weight of the global economic crisis,’’ he said.

Several staff changes today in the Paterson administration.

Paterson announced that Insurance Department Superintendent Eric Dinallo will resign in July to become a visiting professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Dinallo came in with the Spitzer administration and worked with Spitzer in the attorney general’s office.

He’s rumored to be eyeing a run for attorney general if Andrew Cuomo decides to run for governor.

Also reportedly leaving the second floor is press secretary Errol Cockfield, a former Newsday bureau chief who also came in under Spitzer. He’s expected to move over to the governor’s intergovernmental affairs office.

And coming into the governor’s office is Robert Megna as budget director. He takes the $178,000-a-year job from Laura Anglin, who is resigning to head the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.

Megna had been commissioner of the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Jamie Woodward was named acting commissioner of the department; she had been executive deputy commissioner.

Former state Comptroller Carl McCall said he endorsed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand today because “I’ve known her for a long time and I’ve admired her for a long time.”

With her potential Democratic primary foes dropping off, McCall said in an interview that his endorsement today comes because “She has some momentum now. This was just a good time. She’s trying to reach out to a lot of people to get on board now.”

He downplayed criticism that Gillibrand, the former Albany-area congresswoman, has flip-flopped on issues, in particular gun rights and same-sex marriage.

“When you move to statewide office, you have to look at things a little differently,” McCall said. “You’re representing a different kind of constituency. I don’t think it’s a flip flop. I think you evolve and have different interests you have to serve.”

Though about 10 of her New York congressional colleagues have yet to endorse her, she’s been touting recent endorsements from elected leaders and groups.

Today, other Democrats who endorsed her include: Brooklyn Assemblymen Darryl Towns and Karim Camara;  Assemblywoman Deborah Glick of Manhattan, Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson of Mount Vernon, Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples of Buffalo, Assemblyman Mark Schroeder of Erie County and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Greenburgh, Westchester County.

How dysfunctional and combative is the Senate?

“You couldn’t get two-thirds of them to agree on what was even if there was only one clock in the room,’’ E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center, a conservative think tank, opined today on Talk-1300 radio in Albany this morning.

Republicans and Democrats have been remarkably consistent in voting along party lines all year on controversial issues, since the Dems took a 32-30 majority in last year’s elections.

June is normally the time when thoughts of many people turn to proms, the end of school, summer vacations, pennant races and barbeques.

But this year, New Yorkers may have to focus on their wallets a little more than usual.

A host of new taxes passed as part of the state budget and then, for people in the Hudson Valley, last month as part of a plan to bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, take effect on Monday, June 1.

They range from higher levies on auto insurance to Internet purchases and car and limo rentals.

The biggest hit was scheduled to be a new nickel deposit requirement on water bottles, but a state Supreme Court judge this week put off the effective date, saying that bottlers weren’t given enough time to work out the details of the new program. So for now, the only containers that require the deposits are beer and soda bottles and cans.

The biggest tax hike, on the incomes of the wealthy, is retroactive to the first of the year. Overall, lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson agreed to increase taxes and fees by about $8 billion to help close a budget gap.

   The Senate’s traveling ethics-reform show hit New York City today with a public hearing on four proposed bills that would strengthen ethics laws. There will be a public hearing in Buffalo tomorrow and Albany on Tuesday.

   The bills would:

  — Lower the amount of money lobbyists and firs that receive state contracts can contribute to political campaigns and committees. Require lobbyists to disclose business relationships with public officials or their family members as well as campaign contributions.

  —Strengthen the state election law that prohibits using campaign funds for personal use.

  —Create a nine-member commission to oversee both the executive and legislative branches of government.

  —Require legislators to disclose their business relationships and random audits of financial disclosure statements.

   The first two bills are sponsored by Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, and the others are sponsored by Sen. Daniel Squadron, D-Brooklyn. “We can’t fix ethics oversight unless we fix the structure of our oversight bodies,” Squadron said in a statement. Gov. David Paterson has called for shutting down the state Public Integrity Commission and replacing it with an independent Government Ethics Commission.

   The governor’s recommendation followed a scathing report from the state inspector general on State Inspector General Joseph Fisch told lawmakers last week that the now-former executive director of the Public Integrity Commission leaked confidential information about an investigation into now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration.

Senate Republicans are keeping up the pressure on Senate Democrats over their approval of new drug laws that, starting June 8, will allow judges to seal the records of drug offenders from potential employers.

Republicans put out this montage of Republicans senators ripping the changes during the floor debate on the issue last month. And will it blow up like the drivers’ licenses for immigrants debate of 2007?

The National Organization for Marriage is out today with the first television ad opposing attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York.

The group, led by Ossining’s Maggie Gallagher, said it is spending $100,000 on the ad, which will run in the Long Island, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Watertown, and Newburgh areas. The initial ad buy is set to run May 28 through May 31.

“Marriage really matters because children need a mom and dad,” Gallagher said in a statement.  “New Yorkers do not want government redefining marriage for our children or grandchildren; we do not want public schools teaching first graders that gay marriage is okay, that’s a decision that should be left to parents and our values.”

The ad encourages New Yorkers to call their state senators to oppose the same-sex marriage bill.

“The rights of people who believe marriage means a man and a woman will no longer matter,” the 30 second ad states. “We’ll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like it or not.”

The ad comes after the Empire State Pride Agenda has produced two ads featuring families who want a gay family member to be able to marry in New York.

Updated: The Pride Agenda said the ad’s claims are untrue and has a fact sheet that seeks to bust myths about same-sex marriage.

The Pride Agenda said the ad carries “many of the same false messages that we’ve seen in anti-marriage equality campaigns across the country. One of their most deceiving claims is that children will be forced to learn about marriage in schools. This is absolutely untrue-and education officials in Albany have already stated that teaching about marriage of any kind is not mandated by any New York State curriculum. These ads are dishonest and are simply meant to scare people.”

State Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, said Wednesday he will explore a run for state attorney general next year.

“I just think that my candidacy would have something to offer, particularly giving upstate a voice in statewide offices here, and also I have a broad range of experience in state government,” Winner said.

Winner, 59, who has served in the state Legislature since 1978 and the Senate since 2004, is one of several Republicans eyeing a run for attorney general next year when all statewide offices will be on the ballot.

He said some Republican leaders have reached out to him about considering a run, but he said it’s too early to determine if he will officially vie for the seat, currently held by Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

“I’ll move around a little bit and see whether or not some of the political leaders will be receptive,” he said.

Winner gained statewide attention in recent years when he served as chairman of the Senate Investigations Committee and held hearings into potential misconduct by the Spitzer administration.

Winner’s name surfaced amid speculation that Cuomo may not seek re-election next year and instead run for governor because Gov. David Paterson’s approval ratings are the lowest in modern times.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Winner is among potential Republicans candidates, including Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

On the Democratic side, Assemblymen Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, Westchester County, and Denise O’Donnell, Paterson’s deputy secretary for public safety, are possible candidates. Both ran briefly for the position in 2006.

Brodsky said Wednesday it’s too early to discuss his intentions, saying there is no vacancy yet.