The phrase "a large budget gap" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing financial issues, particularly in the context of a shortfall between income and expenses.
Example: "The city is facing a large budget gap that may require cuts to essential services."
Alternatives: "a significant budget deficit" or "a substantial financial shortfall."
The mayor had called for 15percentt cuts from almost all the agencies -- save uniformed forces and the Board of Education -- in October, citing a large budget gap caused largely by the terrorist attack in September.
The director of Baltimore's planning department, Thomas J. Stosur, said that with the city facing a large budget gap last year, the subsidy cut was unavoidable.
Mr. Pataki's aides said that about $96 million would go to local governments, primarily New York City, whose leaders are also struggling to close a large budget gap.
But mindful of last year's defeat, Dr. Dean said that despite a large budget gap, he did not intend to try to get more money from cigarettes this year.
Mr. Giuliani's new budget plan projects a large budget gap, and fiscal experts expect that the budget surplus, which the city traditionally uses to help close the gap, will be smaller than in recent years.
Still, whatever the grumblings, Mr. Cuomo's strategy has largely worked: He has avoided taking positions on controversial issues, even as the state, facing a large budget gap, grapples with the prospects of laying off state workers, raising taxes or eliminating programs.
Not surprisingly, states with slower-growing economies tended to have a larger budget gaps.
As a result, the authority had to borrow heavily to finance the last plan, leading to the large budget gap next year and an even bigger one, more than a billion dollars, the year after.
"New York State will face another large budget gap this coming year," said Frank Mauro, the institute's president.
As E. J. McMahon, an analyst with the conservative Manhattan Institute, points out, to complain about how the large budget gap developed -- by the governor and lawmakers spending generously and using up most of the state's reserve funds in an election year as the economy weakened -- "is not conservative or liberal".
"There will be no confusion about the gravity of the situation," said Mr. Paterson, who has been sounding the fiscal alarm repeatedly in recent months, as state budget officials began forecasting large budget gaps and a prolonged and deep recession in the state.
