NYS budget recap: broken process, broken promises (Editorial)
The Syracuse Post-Standard
Over the weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York's Legislature agreed on a $168.3 billion budget for the 2019 fiscal year. Before Albany moves on to the next thing - which could be nothing in an election year - let's revisit what it just did and what it means.
We won't mince words about the budget process itself. It's a joke.
The Legislature also approved $600 million for economic development without any new demands for transparency or accountability, even after the Joe Percoco corruption trial showed how lobbyists and developers game the system. We join the Citizens Budget Commission and other watchdogs who clamor for a "database of deals" showing all recipients of state money; for more scrutiny of contracts by the state Comptroller; and for requiring developers to put more of their own money at risk before taxpayers are asked to kick in.
These open-ended appropriations are just an open invitation to corruption. Stop doing it this way