After months of discussion and rancor the Legislature last night passed the final piece of the budget for fiscal year 2010-11, which began April 1. The good news is that the plan partially addresses the current year deficit and helps with next year's.

To help fill in some of the details that have been missing during the budget battle the past few weeks, the Citizens Budget Commission has tallied the impact of both the legislative actions taken already and those expected to be taken to close the $8.6 billion budget gap.

What ought to be considered a dramatic reversal of a highly praised policy has been buried in an arcane legal change made by the State Legislature at the request of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.