Budget Expert Offers Four Principles to Guide Legislature in Dealing in Budget Shortfall

ALBANY, NY (12/07/2008)(readMedia)-- When the NYS Legislature returns to Albany December 15, they will be faced with a revenue shortfall in excess of $1.5 billion. In an interview published today on the Empire Page, Elizabeth Lyman, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, argues that the deficit could be even worse and offers four principles that can guide the legislature and governor as they attempt to bring the budget into balance.

Her recommendations are to (1) stop funding to programs that don't work or aren't needed, (2) increase employee and retiree payments toward their health insurance premiums, and restructure pension benefits for new state employees, (3) end the practice of increasing spending for wealthy schools when you try to help needy ones, and (4) don't solve the crisis by increasing taxes and as a result reducing New York's economic competitiveness.

Lyman warns against depending on the federal government to bail out New York. "It is still very likely that we will have to solve a large part of this problem on our own," Lyman states.

And Lyman warns that the shortfall will not be a one-year occurrence. "The massive changes underway in the financial sector, upon which New York relies for 20 percent of its revenues, have major long run implications for government spending," Lyman states. "New York State will in all likelihood need to tighten its belt not just next year but for the foreseeable future."

Lyman also recommends that the state reduce its number of prisons and explains why legislative action is required to do so quickly.

The complete interview -- as well as previous interviews -- can be found in the "Improving New York" section of the Empire Page.

The Improving New York section of the Empire Page explores solutions to New York's government-related problems. Future interviews will examine educational funding, government waste and property tax issues.

The Empire Page is published by PoliticalNewsToday.com, LLC, which seeks to provide information and opinion on the key issues of the day through websites that aggregate news and opinion and provide useful content for people active in government and politics. The partnership consists of Peter G. Pollak, who is the majority shareholder and actively manages the company, Schwartz-Heslin Group and Wynantskill Capital.