Contingency Budget laced with sweets, poison pills
By SHERRY HALBROOK
In mid-February, the governor proposed and the Senate passed contingency budget legislation for 2005-06.
This proposal is supposed to provide at least a temporary budget agreement between the governor and Legislature to keep the state running if they can’t agree on a new 2005-06 state budget by April 1, when the state’s new fiscal year officially begins.
The Contingency Budget’s appropriations, which are mostly the same as in the 2004-05 budget enacted late last year, would take effect and become the adopted budget, unless they are later altered by a supplemental budget bill that may be submitted by the governor.
Some of the same factors that prevent Gov. George Pataki and state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver from agreeing on a new budget could prevent them from agreeing on the Contingency Budget, as well.
Strong mix of good, bad
From PEF’s perspective, the Contingency Budget is a painfully mixed bag.
On one hand, it’s more appealing than the governor’s original Executive Budget proposal because it leaves out the changes PEF doesn’t want.
But at the same time, it leaves out extremely important changes the union does want: funding for 2004-05 employee raises included last year in a special pay bill passed by the Legislature to implement PEF’s and other state employee unions’ collective bargaining agreements. The Contingency Budget proposal also does not include funding for the pay raises effective April 1, 2005.
“We don’t know yet how this might affect our members’ pay checks,” said Tom Cetrino, PEF’s director of civil service enforcement. “If the Contingency Budget were enacted with no other budget legislation, the state might have to reduce its workforce in order to meet its payroll obligations.
“The Contingency Budget also under funds the state’s contribution to the retirement system, the Health Insurance Fund, the Dental Insurance Plan and for payments to the State Insurance Fund for Workers’ Compensation benefits. It also under funds the state’s contribution for programs provided in all state-employee unions’ contracts.”
“PEF has already communicated with the Senate regarding our preliminary concerns about the Contingency Budget and we will take all necessary action to ensure that our members receive their paychecks, raises, and longevity payments in full and on time,” said PEF President Roger Benson.
On the positive side, the Contingency Budget adds funding to the enacted 2004-05 appropriations for the Alcohol Beverage Control Board, Department of Correctional Services, Crime Victims Board, Division of Criminal Justice Services, Division of Parole, and the Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives.
“The additional funding for these agencies either reflects selective restorations or last year’s refusal by the Legislature to approve budget language legislation which would have changed these agencies’ functions,” said Tom Cetrino, PEF’s director of civil service enforcement. “For example, a $19.3 million appropriation is added to the state Department of Correctional Services budget which should enable DOCS to keep Camps Pharsalia and McGregor and Fulton Work Release Facility open.
“Since the Contingency Budget contains mostly last year’s appropriations, based on our analysis,” Cetrino said, “it does not appear to implement any of the mergers, privatizations or movement of programs the governor proposed in the 2005-06 Executive Budget.”
Budgetary carte blanche?
State employee unions aren’t the only ones finding hidden hooks in Contingency Budget legislation.
Silver has said the Assembly must reject it because the legislation would give the governor extraordinary powers in order to keep disbursements within the limits set by the Contingency Budget:
“…the governor, in addition to all other powers conferred upon him by the state constitution and state law, shall have the power to suspend, alter or modify the operation of any law, rule or regulation relating to the apportionment, allocation or expenditure of funds.”
That could be interpreted as giving the governor broad powers to override existing statutory provisions. For example, the governor might claim it authorizes him to merge or privatize state agencies without approval by the Legislature, an interpretation PEF would dispute.
Cetrino and PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran speculated that because it is such a mixed bag, the Contingency Budget bill could be more of a bargaining position than an actual budget to take effect April 1. However, its provisions must be taken seriously, they cautioned.
“The state budget situation is very fluid,” Benson said, “and we expect additional significant developments to occur throughout March. It’s very important for PEF leaders and activists to lobby state legislators in their district offices on PEF’s budget priorities using the fact sheets.” They are available on the PEF Web site at
www.pef.org.
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