New York State’s budget allocates over $220 billion annually to critical programs New Yorkers rely on—education, health care, transportation, and more. While the budget should enable the State to both deliver critical, cost effective services and build a strong fiscal foundation, achieving these goals is hampered by New York’s budgeting and financial management processes that are opaque, provide insufficient information needed to make sound decisions, allow accounting maneuvers to hide fiscal problems, and lack adequate oversight. 

CBC’s new report, Accounting (and More) for a Better Budget, presents four strategies to improve budget decisions, transparency, fiscal stability, and service quality. The State should: 

• Increase fiscal integrity by standardizing accounting, building reserves, and better managing debt; 
• Improve decisions by providing needed information, and adequate time to use it; 
• Bolster oversight and accountability by strengthening fiscal monitors; and 
• Improve accountability for the money it spends by implementing a comprehensive system to manage State agency performance. 

The process is ripe for reform, with a new Administration, New Yorkers facing significant needs, and rocky economic waters ahead. To drive significant improvement, CBC makes 12 specific recommendations. For example, the State should: 

• Require financial plans with budget bills, including the enacted budget; 
• Require fiscal estimates with relevant legislation;  
• Tightly tie appropriation amounts to planned spending so people are not misled as to what programs are funded; 
• Manage, balance, and report on the budget based on standardized rules of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); 
• Strengthen the Rainy Day Fund; and 
• Prevent the use of messages of necessity for budget bills so legislators and the public can better understand the budget before they vote. 

Read the report, Accounting (and More) for a Better Budget, for a full discussion of the challenges and detailed strategies and recommendations to address them.  New Yorkers deserve to know how their money is spent and that it is spent wisely. The time to start is now.