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Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Raps Budget Proposal

February 29, 2008

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Thursday said Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s $124.2 billion budget plan relies on billions in uncertain revenues and unwanted new debt and saddles the state with a future of huge budget gaps.

DiNapoli questioned the likelihood of a number of new sources for money, such as a tax on illegal drugs. He also noted Spitzer is relying on $676 million in proposals the Legislature has rejected in previous years.

“We’re in a challenging time in connection with the health of the economy and it’s not getting better,” he said.

He credited Spitzer for amending his budget downward by $100 million but said he didn’t pare enough.

“He certainly went in the right direction,” DiNapoli said. “I think he’s being too conservative” about the potential risks to a recession-like period.

DiNapoli didn’t bother assessing Spitzer’s plan to net $4 billion for an endowment for higher education by leasing a major portion of the state Lottery. The plan is “too vague for analysis,” DiNapoli said. Lawmakers, expected to adopt a budget by April 1, have been cool to the plan, which Spitzer ties to his goal of hiring 2,000 more college professors.

Further, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno have shown no interest in going along with Spitzer’s plan to raise $900 million by selling parcels planned for the Javits Convention Center’s expansion in Manhattan. Silver doesn’t go along with video lottery terminals at Belmont Park, killing another $250 million Spitzer planned for his budget. And Bruno says he will fight proposed taxes, fees and assessments that total about $1.7 billion.

DiNapoli said debt payments are rising annually, and would increase 24 percent to $67.3 billion over the next five years.

Independent budget watchdogs, such as the Citizens Budget Commission, say the Legislature and Spitzer must be stingier to avoid mid-year shortfalls that could result in cutting programs or breaking funding commitments.

Spitzer spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said DiNapoli’s economic analysis closely follows the governor’s. He said Spitzer closed a $4.6 billion budget gap and planned to cut future gaps by $8 billion, but still wants to make the investments and spend as proposed in his budget.Source: Times Union

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under News 

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