NY Capitol News [1] reports that there may not be a complete state budget by the March 31 deadline.
Actually, they're reporting that some budget items that don't need to be decided by the start of the new fiscal year may be put off until later. The idea is to make decisions regarding education, heathcare, and other "basic budget" items now, and deal with the less vital decisions later, when there is more time to figure out just where we stand fiscally.
The problem is, where we stand fiscally is on sand.
New York, like most states, has a constitution that requires an annual balanced budget. The theory is that we need to force our "leaders" to be responsible. It's a nice theory, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work, because our "leaders" have not behaved responsibly. During the economic boom years, when the money was flooding into state coffers, nobody in power spoke out about finding a way to plan for a future date when that flood would become a stream, and then a trickle.
Here in New York City, Mayor Bloomberg did try, in recent years, to make plans. He wasn't able to change the constitutional requirement that the city balance its annual budget, but he found a way to create a de facto "rainy day fund," by making future pension and health payments now. But Mayor Bloomberg is a rare exception. (Note: Another exception was Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who despite not being limited to an annually balanced budget refused to cut taxes recklessly during the good years but instead created a "rainy day fund" that allowed his successor to balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting services.)
But in Albany, both Governor Pataki and the legislative leaders failed to do anything but spend everything they could get their hands on. Even last year, under Governor Spitzer, the legislature added billions of dollars to the Governor's proposed budget. And now we're paying the price.
Obviously, there is no way, during good economic times, for our state "leaders" to behave like ants rather than grasshoppers. This means that now is the time to make plans for the next time we have the extra money coming in. Now is the perfect time, because we are all aware that good economic times are only part of a cycle; when things turn up we will forget that inescapable fact.
So let us pass word on to Governor Paterson, Speaker Silver, Majority Leader Bruno, and our own elected representatives in Albany that while they are sitting around in late April and through May they should take the time to create a budget system that will ensure that the next recession will not be a cause for extra concern and drastic budget cuts. And if they refuse to behave responsibly this spring, let us demand that they return in the fall to do their jobs properly.
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