May 30, 2006
By Dylan Skriloff, material edited from www.bcnys.org
It's more of the same from Albany, the budget recently passed by the Legislature will increase spending at three times the rate of inflation and lead to a 30% increase in spending by fiscal year 2008/2009, according to a new report released by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
Hevesi criticized Governor Pataki’s original budget proposal but said the Legislature "made matters worse by increasing spending growth and the use of debt and one-shots, creating a two-year gap as high as $13.2 billion."
"This year New York State enacted an on-time budget for the second year in a row. Process is important, but so is the final product,” he said. "This budget ignores fiscal discipline and long term consequences."
"While the Legislature rejected many of the Executive's proposed back-loaded tax cuts, the Enacted Budget still includes significant out-year revenue reductions without adequate consideration of new costs related to the relief to local governments provided by the Medicaid caps that will increase costs for the state,” the report said.
Hevesi believes the State ought to have made an effort to use the budget surplus this year to reduce debt.
"Instead, the foundation of this year’s proposed Executive Budget was excessive spending growth without increasing revenue to pay for it, an over-reliance on non-recurring resources and increased borrowing," the report said.
The Governor did not hold the line on spending either, the report said.
"While the Legislative Budget would have totaled $112.5 billion, the current budget after the Executive’s vetoes, reappropriations and other actions amounts to $112.3 billion. This is not a significant reduction considering the size of the budget."
"The Governor and Legislature in separate actions have produced a budget with spending growing much faster than revenues, increasing rather than limiting the use of debt, and greater use of one-shots that plug today’s budget holes while increasing future gaps. That’s a formula for severe problems in the future,” Hevesi said.
Weeks after adoption of the budget, the Legislature has not made public its estimates of total spending and revenues, "thereby hindering a thorough analysis of the intent of its actions" on the governor's proposal, the comptroller's report said.
The report is available at www.osc.state.ny.us/reports/budget/2006/enactedbudget06_07.pdf
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