Gov. David Paterson said Sunday that he would act unilaterally to close $1.6 billion of the approximately $3.1 billion budget gap, and he urged the Legislature to reach an agreement on a deficit-reduction plan for the balance as soon as possible.

   Negotiations with the Senate and Assembly over the holiday weekend had not led to any agreements or new proposals on how to remedy the problem, Paterson said during a conference call with reporters Sunday afternoon.

   The governor indicated that the administration is having more difficulty with the Senate than the Assembly in addressing the state’s “fiscal emergency.”

   “I have been trying at this point to make this a three-way agreement. I have been trying to work with them and continue to negotiate with them. The Senate in particular does not know that we’ve run out of time,” he said, adding that they seem “more concerned with short-term politics than the long-term reality.”

   Billions of dollars in payments from the state to cover school aid, tax rebates and other obligations are due next month. The state faces a downgrading of its credit rating if it does not have the cash on hand to pay those bills, the governor said.

   The governor and lawmakers have been unable to reach a deal, and this will be the fourth week he has called them into special session. The biggest stumbling block has been education cuts proposed by Paterson. Senate Democrats and Republicans do not want to make mid-year school-aid reductions. The Assembly has not ruled out cuts.

   Senate Democrats agree that there are administrative actions the governor should take while a “sensible solution to the budget gap is negotiated,” said Austin Shafran, spokesman for the Senate Democratic Majority.

   “We will continue to work with all sides on a bipartisan and fiscally prudent deficit-reduction plan that protects jobs, prevents tax hikes, and saves critical funding for our schools,” Shafran said.

   Robert Megna, Paterson’s budget director, said the state can borrow money for its general fund from other state accounts. New York is moving ahead this week with planned borrowing for capital projects, and the state can use the money from that before it is loaned out, he said.

   Lawmakers balked last week when the governor requested one-time permission to act on his own close the budget deficit if they couldn’t reach an agreement.

   “Now some of the senators said last week that they’re not going to let me do their job. My question is when are they going to do their job?” Paterson asked.