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Assembly Democrats’ Budget Resolution Hinders The Chances Of On-Time Budget
by Assemblyman Willis H. Stephens, Jr.
With April 1 fast approaching, New York residents should brace themselves for what could likely be the 17th consecutive late budget. The past track record of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver leads me to believe this will be the case.
On March 21, the Democrat-led Assembly passed their version of what the state should be spending for the upcoming fiscal year. Their plan calls for a 585.97 billion spending spree, $2 billion over what Gov. Pataki proposed. This fiscal recklessness would increase spending over the current fiscal year by 8.2 percent.
The Assembly Democrats need to realize that when they take such extreme fiscal positions, it affects every person in the state. These elected officials need to act responsibly towards their constituents and loosen the stranglehold they are trying to place on all New York taxpayers.
These are examples of what can happen with another late budget:
1. Late budgets adversely affect the state’s credit rating, burdening taxpayers with higher interest payments.
2. School districts must plan budgets not knowing the amount of state aid they will receive. The local taxpayer is hit hard by the unnecessary expense and chaos created for school officials who must try to cover the revenue loss every spring by high-interest borrowing to meet interim expenses.
In order to restore fiscal responsibility that will help everyone from school districts to non-profit organizations, I have joined my Assembly Republican colleagues to unveil a six-point plan for budget reform that will assure an on-time, every-time budget.
Elements of the Assembly Republican six-point budget reform plan are:
* Reform Revenue Forecasting - Require the comptroller to provide a preliminary economic and revenue forecast on or before March 1. If no agreement is reached by March 10, the comptroller would establish a binding revenue number on March 11 that would be the final number upon which the budget would be based.
* Establish Budget Conference Committees - Call for both houses, no later than March 15, to appoint members of budget conference committees and subcommittees. This would open up the process to press and public scrutiny, and permanently end the so-called three men in a room practice of deciding the budget.
* Restrict Legislation After April 1 - Prohibit the Legislature from considering any non-budget bills after April 1 if the budget is still pending.
* Enact a Sunshine Requirement - Require the Division of the Budget to produce a plain-language summary report to be made available to the Legislature and the public for at least 48 hours prior to the passage of the budget.
* Implement a Fail-Safe Mechanism - Call for a constitutional amendment mandating the use of the prior fiscal year’s state budget if no budget is agreed to within 60 days of the April 1 deadline.
* Enhance Fiscal Stability -Increase the amount of money in the state’s financial reserve or "rainy day" account from 2 percent to 5 percent of general fund spending and increase the maximum annual contribution from two-tenths of a percent to one-half percent.
It’s critical that the state Legislature comes together now to give the people of this state a responsible, economically sound on-time budget. The future of this state depends on it.
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