With the state’s budget deadline rapidly approaching and lawmakers grappling with a $9 billion deficit, the state’s second-in-command briefed lawmakers Wednesday on a plan for New York to work its way out.

The five-year, structural balance plan being pushed by Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch calls for limited borrowing, along with a spending cap, spending cuts, and an independent review board to keep the budget in check.

“We have to have a way of getting out of this mess,” he said.

He recommends that when the governor submits his budget, he also address a five-year fiscal plan, instead of just outlining a proposal for the year ahead.

Ravitch says expenses are growing faster than revenues, and he urged lawmakers to account for how they will pay for spending increases before they are approved.

The capstone of this plan is a review board, made up of five members, which would decide whether a budget deal is balanced. The board members would be appointed by the governor, the state comptroller, and one each by the two branches of the Legislature.

If the board rules the budget is not balanced, the governor would be given authority to make final cuts.

The plan would limit how much could be borrowed at no more than $2 billion to keep lawmakers from using it as a spending crutch.

Critics say borrowing to pay for everyday expenses is dangerous.

“It all tends to feed into the way the legislature’s view that this is an impossibly big problem that one cannot expect them to address,” said Empire Center for Fiscal Policy Executive Director E.J. McMahon.

Ravitch said as lawmakers deal with crisis after crisis, they will not only be forced to raise taxes to supply essential services, but they will also be unable to invest in any growth or future-oriented programs.

“Essentially, what I’m asking elected officials of both parties to face up to is, that you have a unique problem, because of the seriousness of this problem and the consequences of avoiding it, to do right by this state,” Ravitch said.

“I’m encouraged by what I heard and I think a lot of the members of the legislature will be equally encouraged,” said Senator Diane Savino of Staten Island…

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