Last week, an item was posted here about Governor Paterson’s somewhat puzzling announcement implying (seemingly) that his 2011-12 budget would result in a $1 billion surplus that he would use to finance a property tax circuit breaker. “If the governor is saying that the four-year financial plan to be issued with his 2010-11 Executive Budget next week will make up for lost stimulus money, wipe out the entire projected gap and hold recurring spending a full $1 billion below recurring revenues in 2011-12, that’s really something to celebrate,” I wrote.
I should have read the fine print: Paterson’s original release said the surplus would be a product of his proposed tax cut “if enacted.” Of course, the spending cap has not been enacted (not that it would make a difference). And sure enough, the governor’s newly released 2010-11 Executive Budget does not, in fact, point to a surplus as soon as the year after next. Quite the contrary: if enacted in its entirety, Paterson’s budget will leave the next governor facing a 2012-13 budget gap of $6.3 billion, which will grow to $10.5 billion in 2012-13 and $12.3 billion in 2013-14.
But the next governor, like the current one, will have the power to enforce a spending cap through use of the constitutional line-item veto. Just in case Paterson is really interested in the concept.
About the Author
You may also like
Hochul’s ‘Straight Talk’ on Medicaid Isn’t Straight Enough
Arguably the biggest Medicaid news in Governor Hochul's budget presentation was about the current fiscal year, not the next one: The state-run health plan is running substantially over budget.
Read More
New York’s Medicaid Spending Is Running Billions Over Budget
New York's Medicaid program ran billions of dollars over budget during the first half of the fiscal year, adding to signs of a brewing fiscal crisis in Albany.
According to the fro Read More
Hospital Lobby’s TV Campaign Spreads Misinformation About Medicaid
As New York's health-care industry agitates for more money from the state budget, two of its most influential lobbying groups are airing TV ads that make alarmist and inaccurate claims about Medicaid. Read More
Hochul’s ‘Pay and Resolve’ Push for Hospitals Triggers Déjà Vu
Two years ago last week, I wrote in the Daily News about how then-Governor Andrew Cuomo was pushing a costly change to insurance law on behalf of a hospital group that had supported his campaign through a fund-rai Read More
The Looming Collapse of a Long-Term Care Insurer Raises Questions for DFS
As the Hochul administration presses for the creation of a "guaranty fund" to bail out failed health insurers, the state is quietly moving to seize a small company that could be the fund's first target. Read More
Hochul puts Medicaid spending on a steeper slope
Governor Hochul is releasing the brakes on Medicaid, allowing state spending on the safety-net health plan to increase more than twice as fast as it typically did during the Cuomo administration.
Read More
Hochul’s agenda mostly sidesteps health care
Governor Hochul gave health care surprisingly little attention in her State of the State speech on Tuesday – a sign that taking on dysfunction in one-sixth of the state's economy ranks low on her list of priorities. Read More
Federal omnibus deal has big implications for New York Medicaid
The big spending bill heading for a vote in Washington this week would scramble the outlook for Medicaid in next year's state budget, mostly for the better.
The $1.7 trillion federa Read More