My last column, “Stop playing games with the budget deficit” (Feb. 3) was written one week before New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued his analysis of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget draft. The irrationality I outlined fell short of anticipating the following mea-culpa expressed in the comptroller’s analysis. “The SFY 2010-2011 enacted budget relied on $16.7 billion in non-recurring or temporary budget resources; and overly optimistic tax revenue projections, causing a dramatically worsened state structural deficit.” How dramatic? These tenuous entries constituted 30 percent of all the monies in the state’s operating fund. more

In one of its first orders of business in the new legislative session, the State Senate passed the Job Creation and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2011 on Jan. 19. Supporters of the three-part plan say it will encourage the creation of new private-sector jobs with a tax credit, ensure fiscal responsibility with the enactment of a 2 percent state spending cap and require a two-thirds “super-majority” vote to increase taxes if the Assembly, and then voters, approve a constitutional amendment. more

Twice last week, authorities discovered neglected animals inside dilapidated Rockville Centre homes. The second discovery was by far the worst ... At 14 Montauk Ave., Faith Ross, 54, and her … more

Sen. Dean Skelos assumed the two most powerful posts in the State Senate — majority leader and president pro tem — last week. more

Susan Williams will spend the next 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison after Nassau County Judge Norman St. George sentenced her on Dec. 17 at the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola. more

Long Island’s nine senators will become part of the Republican majority in the New York State Senate next month, and as their leader, Sen. Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre is expected to have their … more

During his campaign, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo’s transition team released a detailed and well-annotated report outlining plans for “Rightsizing Government.” The report’s findings and recommendations reiterate much of what the previous columns in this series have suggested: that New York state’s Public Authorities and agencies have “become too big, too expensive, and too ineffective — an ever proliferating tangle of boards, commissions, councils, departments, divisions, offices, task forces and public authorities, [that] the taxpaying public can no longer afford.“ Amen. more

Back in early August, I began to consider writing a series of columns on reforming New York’s dysfunctional state government. Friends and neighbors were not aware of my interest in this subject; others suggested that no amount of disclosure and transparency could possibly make a difference. more

Back in early August, I began to consider writing a series of columns on reforming New York’s dysfunctional state government. Friends and neighbors were not aware of my interest in this subject; others suggested that no amount of disclosure and transparency could possibly make a difference. more

As I’ve mentioned in my four prior columns, our state authorities and agencies are not sufficiently accountable to the public. In the past decade alone there have been multiple reports by the state Comptroller’s office, governors’ commissions and public sector watchdog groups about this. Efforts to legislate greater accountability by officials who have focused their attention on authorities have met with limited success. more