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.
In this letter to the State Legislature, CBC President Diana Fortuna urges state lawmakers to return for a special session on July 16 to enact sensible congestion pricing in Manhattan, enact stronger and better public authorities law, and loosen the overly binding and costly provisions of the Wicks law.
This is the summary of a report that analyzes five problems with New York's public authorities, all of which fall into two categories: 1) problems of transparency and governance, and 2) problems with debt.
The 12 proposals in this program emerged from a two-day conference of 120 civic, business, labor, and government leaders from across the State, organized by CBC in April 2006. The program is composed of the four steps in each of the following three categories: 1) state and local fiscal responsibilities, 2) debt reform and 3) budget reform.
As of April 25, 2006, debt accumulated by the State's public authorities exceeded $166 billion, which was nearly three-quarters of the State's outstanding debt. This op-ed explains the problems with the authorities' three types of debt (state-supported, project-revenue and private-conduit), and makes suggestions for reform.
New York State’s extensive reliance on authorities has given rise to four significant problems: 1) Misuse of the power to incur debt; 2) Insufficient oversight and coordination of project revenue backed and private conduit borrowing; 3) Insufficient reporting to support accountability; and 4) Insufficient independence in governance.
Printer-friendly version
