§ 51. Interchange of appropriations or items therein. No appropriation
shall be increased or decreased by transfer or otherwise except as
provided for in this section or section fifty-three, sixty-six-f,
seventy-two or ninety-three of this chapter, or article eight of the
education law. Whenever an appropriation is made from a fund to a
department or agency and is accompanied by a schedule showing the
programs or purposes for which such appropriation may be expended, the
amount appropriated for any item or items within any program or purpose
for such department or agency may be increased or decreased by
interchange with amounts appropriated from such fund for any other item
or items within the same program or purpose, or with other items
appropriated from such fund not in the same program or purpose but which
are contained in the state comptroller's classification of items as last
promulgated, with the approval of the director of the budget, who shall
file such approval with the office of the state comptroller and copies
thereof with the senate finance committee and the assembly ways and
means committee. The amounts appropriated to a department or agency from
a particular fund in a fiscal year for the programs or purposes of such
department or agency may be interchanged among such programs or purposes
under the same conditions as heretofore described except that the total
amount appropriated for any program or purpose may not be increased or
decreased by more than the aggregate of five per cent of the first five
million dollars, four percent of the second five million dollars and
three per cent of amounts in excess of ten million dollars of an
appropriation for a program or purpose. The allocation of lump sum
appropriations from a fund made to a department or agency for later
distribution to programs or purposes or to the units of the state
university to the allocation of lump sum appropriations made to all
state departments and agencies for later allocation for specific
programs or purposes shall not be deemed to be part of such total
increase or decrease.