DiNapoli: Control spending

POUGHKEEPSIE – State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Wednesday said New York is still in a difficult budget scenario facing a gap that could quite possibly exceed $1 billion this coming year alone.

He delivered his remarks Wednesday while at the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Poughkeepsie.

DiNapoli spoke confidently about Governor Cuomo’s direction to stabilize the fiscal health of New York and outlined what will happen if the routinely painstaking operation of passing a budget is not rectified.

“Steps need to be taken to control that gap now; if we don’t it’s going to get rolled into next year’s budget gap which could be as high as $11 billion.”

He said the next step is to wait until the governor releases his proposed budget by February 1 and he is expecting a fair amount of necessary funding cuts.

“The emphasis really has to be on the spending side. The reality is that we have spending commitments based on current law and current programs that are not sustainable when you look at the revenue picture that we have. So, in the short run, it’s going to have to have much more efficiency built into all of our spending programs.”

DiNapoli explained that the real problem with the state is that business tax revenues are much lower than expected. He said that making these financing cuts is the way to remedy the state’s continuous budget shortfalls.