I have to admit, I’m having a problem understanding how, in just 33 working days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team was able to recommend 79 cost cutting measures to save $2.3 billion in the upcoming budget. I’ll address this concern from three viewpoints. 
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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

The rainy day is here. At least that’s what Gov. Andrew Cuomo hinted recently when he pointed out that school districts maintain special reserve funds for economic times like … more

For several local school districts, balancing budgets is becoming a daunting challenge. Higher pension costs, a loss of state aid and a possible state tax cap have many school officials looking to tighten their spending plans. Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his first budget proposal on Feb. 1, and districts are being told to tap into their reserve funds to make up for the possible, impending state aid cutbacks and a proposed 2 percent tax cap. Many administrators say they have few options for dealing with increasing costs. more

The West Hempstead school district released a statement last week taking issue with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s assertion that school districts have enough money in unrestricted reserves to offset his … more

Bellmore-Merrick area school administrators said this week that, yes, their districts could cover proposed state aid cuts with their unrestricted reserve funds and federal stimulus dollars, as proposed recently by Governor Cuomo. But, they quickly noted, doing so could leave them with little to no cash on hand for emergencies, and even jeopardize the districts’ long-term fiscal health. more

Last Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed a two percent tax cap and said state aid for school districts would be curtailed significantly for the 2011-12 school year, which were two items Oceanside … more

The mood was somber as school board trustees and Rockville Centre school district administrators sat down on Feb. 1 for the first of six public work sessions on the 2011-12 budget. more

With the inauguration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday, New York state officially ended its brief but disastrous Spitzer era. Eliot Spitzer, the former attorney general, was elected governor in 2006 in a landslide and then entered office not to make friends in Albany, not even to govern, but to rule the land. He crashed and burned in one of the country’s most notorious sex scandals, after which he resigned and Lt. Gov. David Paterson assumed the state’s reins. more

Nearly a dozen New York state legislators, including Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead), will collect two checks from taxpayers next year: one for their salaries and another for their … more