Editorial: Get details right in NYS budget

In the next few days, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the leadership of the State Senate and the Assembly are hoping to reach agreement on the final 2012-13 state budget. It's a spending plan of more than $130 billion, but beyond the big numbers, there are many details to be negotiated. They include such items as a delicate dance over the role of the state comptroller in auditing contracts before they're final and a proposal for replenishing the depleted Environmental Protection Fund. Those details deserve serious attention, too.

Environmental Protection Fund. This fund, created in 1993 for purposes such as open-space acquisition and water-quality protection, has been badly depleted recently, as governors have swept money out of it to meet other needs. To his credit, Cuomo proposes to keep the fund at $134 million in the new budget. In coming years, both houses want to build it back up, by gradually moving unclaimed bottle bill deposits into it, to supplement -- not replace -- the real estate transfer tax that has been its key revenue source. One estimate is that this could put $114 million a year into the fund when it's fully phased in. It's an excellent idea.

Contracts. Cuomo wants to reduce Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's authority to audit contracts before they're final. Is this a gubernatorial power grab or a move to greater efficiency and cost savings?

DiNapoli is "very concerned" about the loss of pre-audits. But Cuomo's staff cites studies questioning the wisdom of having the comptroller audit before and after. One report, before the 1967 constitutional convention, said: "New York remains one of the few states which still places the responsibility for both pre-audit and post-audit in the same official." Now, Cuomo says, only New York and Colorado do it.

Cuomo isn't proposing sweeping change. The vast majority of contracts would still be subject to pre-audit. He wants to do away with it only for large statewide contracts, to be administered by the Office of General Services, like buying cars or toner for copiers. Cuomo's office says the state has to move fast, and pre-audits take too long. DiNapoli says most contracts get approved within 13 days.

On balance, it seems worth a try. But budget language should carefully limit the scope of the change. DiNapoli can, and should, take a careful look at the big contracts later, to make sure the executive handled them properly -- and if turns out that the reduction of pre-audits didn't work well, the legislature can restore them.

Transfers. Cuomo wants to be able to transfer funds from one agency, even from one public authority, to another -- without having to go back to the legislature. In his drive to consolidate agencies, he wants to move the money as consolidations occur -- not wait until the next state budget. Consolidation is an important goal, and the legislature should give this transfer ability a try. The most worrisome part is transfers between public authorities, which already have far too little transparency. When money is requested, approval by the legislature -- after an airing of the reasons -- serves a good purpose. For now, the transfers should only be allowed among the agencies.

Getting a budget done on time is vital. Getting it right, on the big numbers and the small matters, like these, is just as imperative.