VOTE “NO” ON BUDGET REFORM AMENDMENT
By Bob Confer

As if the local races did not offer enough excitement this year, the November ballot will feature an important amendment to New York State’s Constitution that needs your attention. The Legislature is offering to the voters “Proposal One”, otherwise known as “The Budget Reform Amendment.” If passed, this proposal would shift the budgeting power from the Governor to the Legislature. Despite Assembly and Senate comments to the contrary, doing so would ultimately prove quite detrimental to New York taxpayers as frugality would be cast to the wayside, more so than it is now.

The highest budget responsibility was granted to the Governor over seventy years ago based upon the pretense that he was elected by and for all New Yorkers and would look out for the needs of the many, not the needs of the few. Unlike state legislators he was not accountable to specific election districts, cities, or counties. It was determined at the time that the legislators were possessed of too much budgetary power. Much like they do now at a somewhat more restricted rate, the legislators would toss pet projects into the budget in an effort to appease only their local constituents. When the accumulation of all of these “needs” was taken into account, the budget proved too large and, with no reigns in place, showed the potential to grow exponentially. Creating an omnipotent budgeter in the form of the Governor became a means by which to restrict this pork barrel spending and offer some fiscal restraint.

Proposal One asks that the voters ignore such logic and place the power back in the hands of the legislators. Such spending power was abused many decades ago, but would be more so in today’s world. Thanks to the proliferation of the electronic media (TV, radio, and the Internet), those in a voting district now know much more about what a legislator has done in his or her district. Such localized accountability would force more localized spending and New York would fall into the same fiscal trap it was in before the Governor was given his budgetary authority.

One cannot help but look at recent history as well to know Proposal One is destined for failure. In the past decade the Legislature has tacked-on an extra $12.1 billion to the Governor’s proposed budgets, including a staggering $1.3 billion this year alone. Were this spend-happy Legislature - not the Governor - to become the budget-proposing entity, the initial proposal of each year would start at levels so much higher than the Governor’s office would have offered. Without the gubernatorial watchdog, all restraint will be gone.

The weaknesses of this proposal do not end there. Hidden within it are quite a few items that lessen the Legislature’s accountability and promote an environment of budgetary mismanagement. For starters, this amendment would not require the Legislature to pass a budget on time. Not that they have a history of doing so anyways even though required by law; remember that the last budget was passed on time for the first time in twenty-one years. Under Proposal One, were the budget late, a contingency budget would go into effect, eliminating the need to be timely and frugal. Furthermore, gone would be the law that puts a hold on Legislators’ paychecks until the passing of a budget. Compounding these disheartening matters, the Legislature would be allowed to draft a budget in secrecy and are granted the ability to craft a budget that is not balanced.

It is apparent that recklessness will prevail were Proposal One to pass, which it may. Much like most items typically included on ballots – such as those for major capital expenditures –it has flown under the radar. The legislature has done little or nothing to educate the masses on this proposal, so the average voter will have no inkling as to what the consequences of this amendment might be. Accordingly, the brief description shown on the voting machine might look attractive to the uninformed based upon their knowledge of New York’s sullied past of late budgets and heavy taxes. That is why it is important that the readers of this newspaper make a concerted effort to get the word out regarding the ills of Proposal One. This amendment must be stopped dead in its tracks. If not, our State’s economy itself will meet such a fate.