Lawmakers want say in how funds are used

ALBANY -- As lawmakers scramble to make an April 1 deadline, the final stumbling blocks for adopting a New York State budget center on control, lawmakers and officials said.

Control of school aid. Control of money allocated to state agencies. Control of funds for transportation, infrastructure and economic development projects.

In each case, legislators are pushing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to share some of the authority over discretionary funds.

"I think that's what's being negotiated right now -- a process acceptable to the governor and the Legislature whereby some of these needed funds can be distributed without one side getting more credit or it becoming too much of a political football," said Assemb. Philip Boyle (R-Bay Shore).

For Cuomo, the budget offers the chance to make good on his promise that his second year in office would be about "jobs, jobs, jobs." While he recently scored political victories on pension and anti-crime measures, none of the high-profile deals he's cut this year put job-creation at the forefront.

As the budget moves to the homestretch, he's touting NY Works, a proposed fund for launching large-scale infrastructure projects. Stitching together existing state funds, matching federal funds, money generated from selling bonds and private investments, Cuomo wants lawmakers to agree to earmark $15 billion for his plan.

"The budget, first and foremost, is about a jobs program for this state," Cuomo said, "a New York Works program that generates jobs."

Lawmakers maintain they will adopt an on-time budget for the second consecutive year. They acknowledged that an earlier goal of finishing it by March 22 hit snags over the final few outstanding issues, spilling the process into the last week of the month. Subcommittees charged with settling Assembly-Senate differences in various policy areas slogged through, but weren't able to complete their task.

"Things are moving, like a snail, but they are advancing," said Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), co-chairman of the Higher Education Committee.

Last year, his first in office, Cuomo by and large controlled economic development funds through regional councils he created, as lawmakers ceded authority to the rookie governor. Continuing a practice that began after the stock market meltdown, legislators gave up "member items," or funding for pet projects in their districts.

Cuomo wants to convene the councils again. Lawmakers privately said this would allow only the governor to command discretionary pots of money.

"Many members of the Legislature feel that 'member items' are still occurring, it's just the governor that's giving them out," Boyle said.

Lawmakers are pushing for more input on how money is allocated and what projects are selected in their home regions.

"The only thing anybody ever asked for was the opportunity for members to recommend projects that don't necessarily fit within the lines of the different programs but are worthy projects," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said. "It's all members ever wanted was input, and that's what we're talking about."

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said Republicans weren't asking for "member items" but wanted more input on spending. "I think it's a great idea to have the regional economic groups," he said. "But we want more input into how those projects occur."

Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) also said he believes Cuomo will modify a proposal to give the governor's office wider authority to move money from state agency to state agency after the budget has been adopted. Cuomo said he needs flexibility to consolidate functions such as purchases and human resources management, but legislators said the governor's proposals are more far-reaching than that.

"I'm fairly confident that language will be removed," Skelos said. "We maintain that the Legislature has to be part of that process."

Lawmakers also are grappling over how much aid to give community colleges and how to distribute aid among elementary and secondary schools. Cuomo proposed a $132.5 billion budget, a 0.2 percent decline. Lawmakers have indicated the agreed-upon budget would increase the amount, but not by much.

Still, legislators expressed confidence that the budget will sort out smoothly. "I anticipate that some time . . . [this] week we'll be voting on a budget," Silver said, referring to beating the deadline.

The governor also has started to downplay the deadline.

"It doesn't have to be early," Cuomo said in a recent radio interview. "Whether we get it done on time or not is less important to me than whether it's a good budget."

With Ted Phillips