Mets ownership appears to have little use for former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

It’s nothing personal, mind you, it’s just that Fred Wilpon, his son Jeff and Saul Katz are not interested in settling the $1 billion lawsuit brought against their Sterling Equities firm by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the Bernie Madoff estate — and are ready to press ahead to settle the legal score at a trial, The Post has learned.

That could take years.

The trio, whose Sterling Equities firm owns the Mets, have in the last several days privately said to potential buyers of a minority stake in the team that they do not expect to pay any money to Picard for two to three years, according to sources close to the matter. They told the bidders as much in order to allay fears of a new cash crunch.

A source close to Picard’s team confirms that Sterling can drag out the $1 billion suit against them for a few years until it reaches a jury.

In his suit, Picard claims Sterling should have known Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. The suit seeks the return of $300 million in profits plus the $700 million in principal Sterling withdrew since December 2002.

Bankruptcy Judge Burton R. Lifland on Feb. 20 appointed Cuomo to mediate an agreement, but the talks have stalled, according to sources on both sides of the discussions.

The Picard team may be willing to settle for $500 million, two sources said, and the Sterling owners are willing to settle for a much lower figure, about $150 million to $200 million, another source said.

In all respects, the sides are far apart.

Major League Baseball had pressured Sterling to sell a minority stake to stabilize its finances but is not asking it to settle with the Madoff trustee so there is no need for Sterling to rush a settlement, sources said.