Fiscal 'emergency' seen as option for Cuomo

Gov.Andrew M. Cuomo gets to explain his use of the term "emergency" on Wednesday when he addresses lawmakers face-to-face for the first time.

During his inaugural remarks Saturday, even the ears of recovering New Year's revelers perked up when Cuomo promised "an emergency financial reinvention plan."

This use of the "e" word, while dramatic, may not be much of a mystery.

As a candidate, Cuomo urged a one-year suspension of state-worker salary hikes - including automatic "step" increments - based on the fiscal emergency of New York's $10 billion deficit.

And two weeks ago, the New York Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials demanded the emergency step of a general wage freeze for local governments. A conference task force - whose 20 members included mayors Paul Pontieri of Patchogue and Mary Bossart of Rockville Centre - cited a legal opinion that deems such a freeze lawful under state and federal law. The opinion, from Terry O'Neil and Howard Miller, partners at the big law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, was first released in May by the conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy. "A court reviewing a statutory wage freeze will likely defer to legislative findings of a fiscal emergency," it said. "If it can be shown that other less intrusive interventions were tried without success to protect the public, the legislation will be upheld."

John Faso, lawyer and 2006 Republican candidate for governor, said, "So long as the 'declaration of emergency' is done pursuant to appropriate 'findings' and enacted by the legislature, it will pass muster, in my opinion."

Running for governor last spring, Suffolk Executive Steve Levy said he'd "declare a fiscal emergency" for the state, akin to what the state has done in the case of failing cities and counties. Levy called for an independent commission, like that which once closed military bases, that would impose a take-it-or-leave-it solution on the legislature.

But when former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch last year also proposed a powerful "financial review board," Cuomo rejected the idea. "While using an unelected board to make hard decisions may seem tempting," he said, "it is undemocratic and would fail to gain the public's trust."

By all accounts, the state's budget shortfall ranges beyond what a wage freeze saves. Some in the administration have been scrutinizing how agency heads and budget technicians account for appropriations.