No to borrowing

New Yorkers already owe more than $3,000 apiece in state debt, an amount triple the national average. And now Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch wants to dig them $6 billion deeper into the hole with promises of fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets to come.

Borrowing $2 billion a year for the next three years is the core of a proposal by Mr. Ravitch to bail the state out of the fiscal mess it is in with a $9 billion deficit in the next fiscal year. It is irresponsible to borrow to pay for day-to-day, recurring operating costs that will have to be paid for year after year.

Mr. Ravitch's plan mortgages future New Yorkers by burdening them with hefty interest payments to be paid out of personal income taxes in order to pay for today's irresponsibility. Debt payments now total about $5.7 billion on this year's $130 billion budget. How much more will future generations be asked to assume? State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said that borrowing is part of the reason the state is in the current crisis and "more debt would become part of the problem and not part of the solution."

In an effort to impose fiscal discipline, the lieutenant governor proposed an independent review board to oversee state finances. Yet its five members would be appointed by the governor, state comptroller and leaders of the Senate and Assembly, the ones who cannot agree now on a balanced spending plan.

The board would conduct quarterly reviews to make sure revenues were in line with spending, If not, the Legislature and governor would have to make spending reductions. If they could not agree, the governor could make cuts without legislative approval. It is hard to imagine legislators surrendering their power to control spending (and protect their favorite programs). They will not want to abdicate their own responsibility in favor of giving the governor power to make unilateral decisions.

Lawmakers would have to abandon some of the fiscal gimmicks, such as one-time revenue, they now use to balance budgets by switching to generally accepted accounting principles.

However, Mr. Ravitch shunned Gov. David A. Paterson's call for a spending cap and did not propose any specific spending cuts or changes, so there is no limit to future spending increases.

Lt. Gov. Ravitch's proposal fails to address the long-term, structural reforms needed to restore New York's fiscal soundness.