Voters Reject Power Grab By Legislature

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The New York Sun

New York voters overwhelmingly rejected a statewide ballot proposal yesterday to limit the power of the governor over the budget process in Albany, but approved a second statewide ballot measure to authorize the state to borrow $2.9 billion for transportation projects across the state.


The passage of the bond proposal will mean that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could begin building the first segment of the long awaited Second Avenue subway as early as next year.


In rejecting the ballot measure known as Proposal One, voters decided to keep the current balance of power in Albany intact, preferring late budgets to a process that would have installed a previous year’s budget as a contingency if the governor and state legislature did not agree on a budget by the beginning of the fiscal year.


While either the governor or the legislature could have tagged on appropriations to the budget, a governor bent on limiting spending could have had his veto of appropriations overridden by a two-thirds majority in the legislature.


The proposal, considered the most sweeping change to the state’s budget process in decades, had elicited condemnation by most editorial pages across the state as a power grab by the legislature and feeding frenzy by special interest groups looking for government subsidies.


Proponents had said the proposal would have solved the problem of the state’s perennially late budgets by putting one in place automatically – a move that would have also insured that lawmakers receive their salaries. Critics had said it would have given the governor little authority to rein in spending.


Governor Pataki hailed the decision in a statement last night, saying, “In defeating Proposal 1, New Yorkers have made the right choice for our State’s future by reaffirming the executive budgeting system the people of New York adopted nearly 80 years ago to encourage balanced budgets, protect taxpayers, and ensure the State’s fiscal integrity.”


Concerns that the $2.9 billion bond will add to what budget watchdogs consider the state’s burdensome debt level of $46.6 billion were overshadowed by the desire by voters to invest in the state’s transportation infrastructure.


Proposal Two will allocate $1.45 billion toward capital projects for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including $450 million each for a Second Avenue subway and an extension of the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal; $100 million for a rail link between lower Manhattan and JFK Airport; and $450 million for the “core program” to repair the subway’s aging infrastructure.


The bond’s passage signaled a new era of expansion for the city’s transportation network.


A spokesman for the Regional Plan Association, Jeremy Soffin, said that since the group was formed 80 years ago, it has been advocating for the Second Avenue subway.


“This is very, very exciting,” Mr. Soffin said. “It shows that New Yorkers really care about transportation.”


The bond will likely unlock billions of dollars in federal funds for expansion projects. The Federal Transit Administration has given the Second Avenue subway priority for funding, but has been waiting for the state to make financial commitments before making additional contributions.


This year’s bond act had support from unions and business leaders as well as transportation advocates. The bond included projects for just about every county in the state, another source of support from local legislators across the state that allowed the bond’s supporters to overcome the defeat in 2000 of a $3.8 billion bond proposal.


Proponents worked to overcome three major hurdles: a traditional aversion by voters upstate to allocate money for projects for which they receive little benefit; a general distrust of the MTA, and a lackluster mayor’s race that may have kept critical New York City voters at home.


“It’s been a very high hurdle because there’s a distrust of the MTA among the public,” Mr. Soffin said of the campaign. “So convincing the public to support more funding for the MTA is a heavy lift.”


Supporters of the bond act were out in full force yesterday at polling sites. Supporters feared that the measure was little known among the public and that its placement on the lower right hand side of the ballot would make it easy to overlook.


The Citizens Budget Commission was one of the few organizations to criticize the bond act, saying the debt it would authorize would add to the $46 billion debt burden the state currently faces.


Transportation advocates had said, however, that the bond act’s defeat would force the MTA to turn to other sources for raising the money, including possibly issuing more debt that would be paid for out of fare box revenues.


Failing to pass the bond would have put projects already planned by the MTA in jeopardy. Earlier this year New York City Transit, which operates the subways, canceled $400 million worth of plans to rehabilitate 12 stations after the MTA received a budget from Albany that was $1.1 billion less than it had planned.


The New York Sun

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