Senator Krueger Releases Report Showing New York State Budget Process Needs a Dose of Reality

For Immediate Release: Friday, February 25th, 2010
Contact: Kyle Sklerov (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 (c) 914.772.1589

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

SENATOR KRUEGER RELEASES REPORT SHOWING NEW YORK STATE BUDGET PROCESS NEEDS A DOSE OF REALITY

As New Yorkers adjust to sobering financial realities in the wake of the recession, Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) released today a comprehensive report on the state’s fiscal planning process by the Senate Select Committee on Budget and Tax Reform. The report highlights the need for the state to likewise come to terms with an austere fiscal picture through the adoption of a series of budget reforms.

The report, which is based on oral and written statements from the Select Committee's December 17, 2009 public hearing in Manhattan, evaluates the effectiveness of the budget reform package the Legislature passed in 2007. It also looks at what other steps are necessary to improve the budget process, which government watchdogs have criticized as being “opaque and rushed” at best.

The Staff Report to the New York State Senate Select Committee on Budget and Tax Reform on Improving Transparency, Forecasting and Flexibility in New York State’s Budget Process features the following:

• A 15-year review of budget reform initiatives in New York State.
• An analysis of how revenue consensus flaws at the beginning of the budget negotiations reverberate throughout the process and negatively impact both forecasting accuracy and public participation.
• A review of measures, such as multi-year budgeting and performance budgeting, that other states and cities have adopted to enhance their long-term planning.

“The current fiscal planning process encourages budgets New York State cannot afford,” said Senator Krueger, who chairs the Select Committee. “All too often, politics — more than fiscal realities — draw the bottom line in Albany.”

She added: “By moving the fiscal year to June 1, creating a legislative budget office and adopting the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, we can introduce into the budget process a much-needed dose of reality.”

**REPORT ATTACHED**
 
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