State budget
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed budget contains several initiatives that have state lawmakers concerned about a shift of power to the governor’s office that would lessen the Legislature’s role in setting and overseeing fiscal policy.
The governor is seeking greater authority over state spending, limiting the comptroller’s oversight of state contracts and allowing public authorities to share revenue. To Gov. Cuomo, they are means to bring greater efficiency to state government; to some lawmakers, they are a power grab that undermines the principle of checks and balances.
The governor’s desire to limit the comptroller’s power to review some state contracts before they are approved has merit. Most contracts are subject now to multiple reviews that can be time consuming. Too many bureaucratic layers hold up work and delay projects, when contracts need to be approved in a timely manner. The comptroller’s review can unnecessarily add a third-party review that can slow the process even further.
More troubling, though, is Gov. Cuomo’s proposal to allow public authorities to transfer funds among themselves. That opens up the possibility of back-door funding through increased fees or charges levied by one authority but benefitting unrelated causes. It shifts the financial burden to other users. The state Power Authority, for example, could hike the cost of doing business for its customers to raise funds to funnel to another independent public authority.
The governor’s critics come from his own party. Assemblyman James F. Brennan, a Brooklyn Democrat, said it is “ultimately not healthy for there to be excessive power in the executive branch,” even with a popular governor.
Gov. Cuomo defends his proposals as a way to make state government more efficient, saying at a recent news conference that he was “trying to make a historically dysfunctional government function.” He has the public on his side.
A Sienna Research Institute poll asked voters if they thought Gov. Cuomo was acting more like a king than a governor by trying to impose his agenda. Seventy-two percent said no; 74 percent had a favorable view of him. That might stem from the less favorable public perception or reputation the Legislature has earned from its notorious dysfunction.
However, the budget is a political accommodation, the result of compromise by the governor and Legislature on how to spend money. If the governor has the authority to move money around as he seeks after the budget is adopted, what good is the budget? If Gov. Cuomo wants to streamline government, transferring funds at will is not the way to achieve that. The solution is through reorganization or restructuring just as the governor did this fiscal year with the merger of the banking and insurance departments.
As the budget talks continue in Albany, the governor’s proposal will stimulate public discussions and debate about how to organize state government in today’s environment.
