Janison: Fiscal disputes in full bloom

This is the spring when a hundred disputes bloom.

And all of them involve money.

To get the picture, forget the usual overblown models of Democrat versus Republican, red state versus blue, so-called liberal versus so-called conservative.

The relevant lines of conflict cut so many more ways, they are tricky even to catalog.

Growing out of the wider fiscal crisis, institutions of all kinds compete to try to force each other to pay up -- or at least share the political hits.

Some samples:

Taxing districts vs. counties

In Nassau, school districts are suing to avoid having to pay successful tax challenges for the first time. The county, which paid these obligations before, changed the charter late last year to relieve itself of that burden. It was a move advocated for years by fiscal monitors. The school systems told Newsday the tab could total $52 million annually.

Counties vs. state

In Suffolk, two fiscal officials warned last week that budget shortfalls and cash-flow concerns could force the county -- for the first time in two decades -- to borrow against unpaid state aid. All of the county players involved blamed the state for its delays in making aid payments, now set at $183 million owed.

Big urban centers vs. state

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's school allocations when they were unveiled last month, signaling the first friction between the two men. The mayor accused the governor of holding back long-promised funds and of forcing the prospect of teacher layoffs.

In turn, Cuomo's budget director last month suggested that the city use its reserve funds to avert layoffs -- as the governor has suggested regarding the reserves of suburban school districts.

Governor vs. Assembly

In Albany, Cuomo -- who like other elected executives bears the pressure to close operating deficits -- has been wrestling as expected with resistance from legislators, particularly in the state Assembly.

Many of his fellow Democrats look to shift at least part of the burden for programs they support onto wealthier New Yorkers. So the lower house keeps pushing, at least publicly, to extend a millionaire's income-tax surcharge that Cuomo and the GOP-controlled Senate want to let expire.

Governor vs. State Senate

Cuomo wants to redirect $130 million in economic-development funds away from legislative control, of which Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and others are wary. Assemb. Peter Rivera (D-Bronx) was quoted by the Times Union in Albany as saying: "The issue is, is it the governor's pot, or somebody else's pot?" In a period when pots are harder to come by, the question is key.

Interest vs. interest

New York's massive amalgam of hospital and health-care services, for one, has multibillion-dollar pushes and pulls built into it.

As spelled out in Newsday, Cuomo's Medicaid-cost package includes trade-offs affecting multiple players: Unions, home-care providers, hospitals, doctors and lawyers. Officials even employed a euphemism worth noting: The governor's health-care appropriation bill includes a new $170 million "assessment" on hospitals that the administration calls a "quality contribution."

When revenue is down, it's every interest for itself -- including our different governments.