Cuomo Finds Something Shammy In State Budget Process

Shamwow! (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

Governor Andrew Cuomo presents his first state budget today, and he gave a heckuva of a preview yesterday in an op-ed on how budgets don't work in New York State. As Cuomo presents it, one of the major roadblocks to a "balanced" budget is pinpointing exactly what you are balancing. In many states, and especially in New York State, the budget is weighed down by a number of programs that are designed to increase up to 13% annually, just because they can. Take it away, Andy: "A 13 percent increase, in this economic climate, is wholly unrealistic. Wouldn’t you like your salary or savings account to be based on a formula that gave you a 13 percent increase even though inflation was under 2 percent? The world doesn’t work that way—except in Albany."

So basically, what the Gov wants New Yorkers to know is that if his budget today looks like a doozy, we shouldn't get too up in arms. What he is aiming to cut are planned spending increases, not existing spending levels (which helps explain this, we guess).

Cuomo then went on to explain why he thinks those increases are on the books ("lobbyists, special interests and political friends") and concludes with a very politician-sounding bit about how "we must balance this year’s budget but we must also reform the process so that the cycle finally stops. This year’s budget is not merely about the numbers. It’s about our values and our future."

Meanwhile, some are taking issue with Cuomo's title ("The Real Albany Sham: The Budget") and the fact that Cuomo was, he says, "shocked to learn that the state’s budget process is a sham." As one economist told the Times, "It is a little surprising that such an Albany veteran was surprised by the longstanding New York practice of current services budgeting as required by current law."

And Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), whose role in the Ledge makes him a prime target for Cuomo's concerns, took the high-ish road on the sham-issue. "You can call it what you want to call it, [but] there are serious issues," Silver told the Post. "There are, I believe, serious cuts to be made and serious gaps to close."

Got time to kill this afternoon? You can watch Cuomo give his first Executive Budget Address LIVE! at 1 p.m. on his website.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on February 1, 2011 9:44 AM

Comments [rss]

random transplant

Thats some solid work by the Governor, exactly what we pay him for - too bad nobody will read it.

I dunno about the whole premise though. Clawing a 13% increase away from an insurance or retirement fund which has become dependent on the raise wont be easy.

It defiantly does sound like its worth looking into.

sharon1722

Where else but NY can a teacher who got arrested for being with a hooker and having pot on him, use sexual language in a classroom keep his job after multiple cases against him. All in all he has been paid over $400k to sit around an do nothing since 2005

sharon1722

The state has been borrowing against our future for years to give union pay increases and automatic increases to special interest groups. MTA workers are paid well over the going rate . For instance some bus drivers for NJ transit get between $10-$14 an hour while we pay NYCT drivers $27 an hour. We have shifted work formally done by state workers to small "non profits" that are politically connected, unsupervised and whose executive team collects $100k plus for overseeing a few hundred clients and a handful of worker.
In the last few years to "balance" the budget the state has borrowed against the tobaco settlement money, battery park cities operating surplus. In the case of BPC the state will end up loosing a few hundred mil over a decade for a one shot infusion of cash. With wall street and out formal industrial advantage upstate NYS should have some of the lowest tax rates in the country no the highest. It is decades of corruption, union and special interest bribes. Not to mention that our do nothing legislature made up of slick talking nobody's have million dollar staffs, free lunch, cars and other goodies paid by you no who

cmdrogogov

Unless you can provide some evidence to back up your claims, I'm calling you on being wrong on Union pay-increases.

Many unionized workers saw pay increases below the level of private sector counterparts year-on-year for the past decade. Please decouple the whole 'unions are evil' hurfblurf from bad decisions by policymakers (you know.. who aren't in the unions)

Wall Street doesn't pay taxes worth a damn - you should know that. Neither do many of the upstate industrial firms who are only there because of tax breaks.

Outsourcing continues to be a serious cash-drain problem for the state, however given the clear anti-union bias you seem to present, how would you go about attracting talented employees with the skill sets needed to get projects done?

Teaching has long been a bone of contention and that certainly needs some reform. It also needs to be balanced against the fact teaching is an utterly horrible job with very high risks that few people would be attracted to without some kind of reward.

m015094

You want evidence?

How about Dep of Ed. carpenters Joeseph Zapalla and Micheal Grello making $220K in 2008? I could name hundreds of other union workers making 2-3X what they should be but I'll let you look at the list yourself:
http://www.seethroughny.net/Ho...

oneoneone

New York meet New Jersey.

nicemarmot

Yeah, they gotta figure out how to pay for government services without redirecting all the money that goes straight into the politicians' pockets. That's tough, you know? How are those poor crooks going to feed their kids without stealing our tax dollars?