As Governor Cuomo prepares his executive budget, he should seek structral changes that slow down the state's most potent cost-drivers (pensions, school aid and Medicaid), halt additional economic development spending and steer clear of budget tricks. Senior Research Associate Tammy Gamerman pens an op-ed for the New York Post.
Today is April 1 and the State has a budget in place to begin the fiscal year, a relatively rare occurrence and a good one. Governor Cuomo and the legislative leaders deserve credit for crafting a budget that is not only on time but fiscally responsible as well.
School aid is the State’s largest expenditure item, comprising fully $21.2 billion or one-quarter of the State operating budget.[1] To help close a $10 billion gap in the coming year’s budget, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed reducing school aid by nearly $1.7 billion to $19.5 billion.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive budget released last Tuesday was a welcome change. Breaking with past practice in Albany, he proposed closing the state's budget gap with $9 billion worth of serious belt-tightening.
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposals to cap property taxes and reduce education aid mean that New York State’s 676 school districts will need to manage with fewer resources; their biggest challenge is to reduce spending without hurting services for the more than 2.7 million public school children.
CBC President Carol Kellermann explains how the State can cut spending equitably in the three largest areas of the budget: Medicaid, education, and employee benefits.
In early 2007 newly elected Governor Eliot Spitzer and the State Legislature responded to a court mandate to provide every child in New York with a sound basic education by adopting a plan to increase state school aid by about $7 billion over the next four years.
CBC released a letter that was sent to the New York State Legislature containing “10 Do’s and Don’ts” for spending the estimated $4.8 billion in federal stimulus funds allocated to New York State for use in budget relief in fiscal year 2009-10. The letter briefly outlines the 10 rules and cautions that the funds need to be wisely spent over the next two years.
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