Good morning, on this, the first of December! Time flies when you're arguing budget lines.

The City Council did manage to pass an amended 2011 Comprehensive Budget last night, 4-1. Based on comments made by the public and officials I'd expect the budget process to be a lot different next year. [Saratogian]

You can check out live reporting from the meeting on the new City Desk Twitter feed. Is this helpful to people? It seems to be gaining popularity, nine followers in two days isn't bad.

My tweet of the night came after running into Mayor Scott Johnson scarfing down a slice of pizza at Esperanto about a half-hour before the meeting.

Video from both Nov. 29 and last night's meeting will also be online by end of business today.

In other news; the state Assembly has passed a bailout measure for NYC OTB. The fate of the company, and likely the fate of NYRA, now rest in the hands of the Senate. OTB has said they will start layoffs Friday without a plan in place. [Saratogian, DN]

A public hearing on the Saratoga County budget went by without criticism. Three residents showed up to thank supervisors for the plan. [PstStr]

The NYS Environmental Protection fund will provide grants to Malta and Halfmoon this year for preservation projects. [Gazette]

Gov.-elect Cuomo met in a closed meeting with Assembly Democrats yesterday, hours before chastising the legislature for inaction during this weeks special session. [WXXI, TU]

Democratic Sen. Antoine Thompson of Buffalo conceded to Republican Mark Grisanti after nearly a month of recounting, putting the Senate one seat closer to Republican control. [NYP, R D&C]