Gov. David A. Paterson wants $2 billion cut from the state budget. State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine and his opponent, David A. Renzi, proposed a few steps to make that a reality during a Tuesday spent mostly in St. Lawrence County.

Mr. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, suggested that the Legislature explore consolidating state agencies and authorities with similar responsibilities and consider a hiring freeze at state authorities.

Mr. Renzi, a Watertown attorney and Republican candidate, agreed that the state should look to reduce its size. He also challenged the state to find excessive spending and fraud in the Medicaid system, and look at privatizing some state assets, imposing a moratorium on land purchases in the Adirondacks and reducing the amount of mail sent to constituents by legislators.

The senator said the state Bridge Authority and state Thruway Authority should be folded into the state Department of Transportation. If enacted, he said, the savings would be $52 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year and $104 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Mr. Aubertine also proposed forming the state Energy Authority by combining the state Energy, Research and Development Authority with the state Power Authority. Finally, he suggested moving the state Canal Corp. from the Thruway Authority and putting it under the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"There is no reason why the state taxpayers should have to foot the bill for multiple agencies and authorities that have similiar missions, overlapping responsibility and the same layers of bureaucracy," he said. "These proposals that I have put forward certainly would be a good place to start. If this does nothing more than open the dialogue that we need to have to move the state forward, this will be a giant step forward."

Mr. Aubertine said his proposal would eliminate zero jobs.

"What we're talking about doing is downsizing through attrition," he said. Mr. Aubertine's office said the senator also would like the state to consider a retirement incentive to make consolidation more likely.

The senator's office said state authorities lose about 6 percent of their staff to attrition each year, so enacting a hiring freeze could save $30 million during this fiscal year and $130 million in the next. The retirement incentive, which was not detailed, would save the state $50 million this fiscal year and $200 million next fiscal year, staff said.

Mr. Renzi said the state could recoup about $5 billion by eliminating abuse of the Medicaid system. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said, could be saved by instituting a pre-election blackout for legislative mailers, which he deemed "nothing more than taxpayer-funded campaign fliers."

He said the state should consider having private management of its 21 golf courses, including a mini-golf green, three ski areas and more than 100 campgrounds.

Mr. Renzi did not specify which authorities the state should consider consolidating or eliminating.

Both candidates said the state's fiscal crisis did not occur overnight.

"The fact is that years of excessive spending — voted on and approved by my opponent — is what brought us to this crisis in the first place," Mr. Renzi said.

But Mr. Aubertine said he tried to be part of the solution.

He said that during his five-year tenure in the Assembly, he supported authority reform. The Assembly, he said, tried to "rein in" the state's borrowing practices by restricting some discretionary powers held by authorities, like the ability to bond on their own.

Those bills never became law, he said.

His staff said the senator voted for more than $1 billion in cuts during a legislative session in August.

After relaying his proposed budget cuts, Mr. Aubertine visited the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club, which is home to a lab that teaches computer skills. In 2004, while an assemblyman, Mr. Aubertine secured $500,000 in state funds for the station, known as an Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking lab.

"He took an interest, saw the potential it had for helping people and effectively advocated for us. The program is a success and we have Sen. Aubertine to thank for it," club Executive Director Thomas P. Luckie Jr. said in prepared statement.

Meanwhile, county Republican leaders gathered at Ogdensburg City Hall to rally behind Mr. Renzi, saying Mr. Aubertine has failed to live up to the region's GOP standard-bearers: Rep. John M. McHugh, Pierrepont Manor, and former state Sen. James W. Wright, Watertown.

"Now we lack that strong voice and need Dave Renzi as our new senator to follow in that tradition, and fight for lower taxes, new jobs and a brighter future," county Republican Chairwoman Nancy K. Martin said in statement released by the Renzi campaign.

Mrs. Martin was joined by Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, Gouverneur, County Clerk Patricia A. Ritchie, city Mayor William D. Nelson and others.

Times staff writer Corey Fram contributed to this report.