Proof of more budget tricks from Cuomo who runs over the wandering dago food truck @your expense, has never met a church goer from nassau otb nor a greek. while francis travels cuomo builds his wall around nassau otb. ny pml sec 109 is andrew's three dollar bill & ny const art 1 sec 3 secret code
Sunday, April 21, 2019
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 48 | 24 | 3:45 PM | 12:45 PM | PDT | |||
| LS | LONE STAR PARK | 72 | 0 | 3:35 PM | 2:35 PM | CDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 24 | 3:30 PM | 12:30 PM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 168 | 0 | 2:30 PM | 12:30 PM | MDT | |||
| WO | WOODBINE | 72 | 48 |
Beware of accounting tricks that mask higher spending. That was our warning to New Yorkers last month after Gov. Cuomo rolled out his new budget and claimed it held state-funded expenses to less than 2 percent growth.
Sure enough, watchdogs at the Citizens Budget Commission have now ID’d $1.6 billion worth of “accounting maneuvers” that hide outlays in this year’s plan. That’s on top of $2.5 billion in previous years.
Add back the hidden amounts, CBC reported Tuesday, and spending actually jumps 3.4 percent — far more than the gov’s claimed 2 percent and more than twice the area’s 1.6 percent inflation rate.
“Significant increases” in Cuomo’s budget, “most notably for education, have powered spending beyond 2 percent,” CBC reports. And while the gov brags that this is the ninth straight year he has kept budget growth within his self-imposed 2 percent cap, it’s actually the third year in a row that he’s met the target “with a series of accounting maneuvers.”
The third straight year of smoke and mirrors, in other words.
CBC notes that Cuomo’s budget wizards have shifted “items previously categorized as state operating spending” to off-budget accounts, moved payments between fiscal years and reclassified other outlays — all gimmicks that distort the true fiscal picture.
For example, last year the governor had revenue from the MTA’s mobility tax go directly to the agency rather than to Albany, “saving” him $1.4 billion. This year, nearly $500 million more will go to the MTA. The agency will still spend that money, of course, but it won’t count against Cuomo’s spending cap. Nice trick.
Similarly, $765 million in debt payments scheduled for the coming year are being paid off this year, making outlays for 2020 again seem lower.
No, moves like these aren’t necessarily unwise. But they make the gov’s 2 percent growth claim deceptive, to say the least. “These shifts and reclassifications undermine transparency and make year-to-year comparisons challenging,” CBC argues.
Give the gov some credit: Even with a bump this year of 3.4 percent, Cuomo has kept the state’s spending trajectory far lower than most of his recent predecessors.
But New York already spends more per capita than most states — which explains why taxes here are so high that residents and businesses have been fleeing for years. Albany should be cutting outlays, not just taming their growth.
Meanwhile, Cuomo’s own budgeteers project gaps totaling nearly $20 billion through 2023. And the current economic expansion, now the nation’s second longest, won’t last forever.
New Yorkers will need honest facts about spending growth to understand any budget crisis that develops. Because at that point, Cuomo won’t be able to resort to gimmickry to pay the bills.
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