New York’s state government, recently named the most dysfunctional in the nation by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, is apparently headed for another superlative: the latest state budget in history. If New York doesn’t have a new budget by tomorrow — and it won’t — it will beat the current national record for dereliction of fiscal duty by waiting more than 126 days since the start of the fiscal year.

Despite this, Governor Pataki found the time yesterday to ring the opening bell on Wall Street and attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Bank of America tower in Midtown Manhattan. “This is probably the best day we could choose to break ground,” Mr. Pataki said. “It shows that New York is the financial capital of the world. What better message to send than putting shovels in the ground on this project?”

We can think of one: passing a budget. The speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, is out of commission this week sitting shiva for his brother. He certainly can’t be faulted for that, and he has our condolences. But it underscores the way in which the state’s budget process relies on the cooperation of three individuals — Messrs. Pataki and Silver and the majority leader of the Senate, Joseph Bruno. The legislators took the time this year to pass a constitutional amendment to push back the start of the fiscal year, essentially extending the deadline. They did all this while this year’s state budget was stalled yet again.