Last Spring, New York State adopted an on-time budget for the first time in 21 years. Next month, New Yorkers will be asked to vote on an amendment to the State Constitution that proponents claim will reform the budget process. It won’t.

The proposed amendment – called Proposal One – purports to address the problems that led to those two decades of missed deadlines. But it would actually make on-time budgets even less likely – as incredible as that may seem. It purports to be about reform, but it’s really about the one thing that matters most in Albany – power. It’s an attempt by the Legislature to take power away from the Governor.

What the proposed amendment would do is create a “contingency budget” that would take effect if the Legislature fails to enact a budget by the start of the fiscal year. But it would also give the Legislature new powers to supplement that contingency budget with additional spending. In practice, if the amendment is enacted, the Legislature would have more power when the budget is late than when the budget is on time. As a result, late budgets would be virtually guaranteed every year. Why would the Legislature pass a budget on time if they have more power over it when it is late?

It’s ironic that this vote is taking place in the one year in 21 years that the state budget was adopted on time. The budget was on time because voters were clearly outraged by the state’s astonishing record of missed deadlines.

All that was required for the state to adopt an on-time budget was political will – not a constitutional amendment. When the elected officials realized that the cost of another late budget might be their jobs they met the deadline.

The amendment also fails to address the major deficiencies in the state’s fiscal process – such as requiring a balanced budget and long-term financial planning, and limiting the state’s enormous appetite for debt. That debt is now $46.7 billion: $8 billion more than in 2000 and nearly double what it was in 1990. A recent report by the Citizens Budget Commission (available atwww.cbcny.org) concludes that New York’s current level of outstanding debt is nearly $10 billion above affordable levels and, therefore, places the state well into a “danger zone.” Among the nation’s 50 states, only Massachusetts and Hawaii are in a riskier position. Real reform – including debt reform – is needed, but this amendment is not reform. It merely masks an effort by the Legislature to take power from the governor and take pressure off itself.

The contingency budget, if put into effect, would no doubt be proclaimed as evidence that a budget was adopted on time. But the real work of budgeting the state’s fiscal future would still be undone. The voters should not be fooled. Taxpayers deserve real reform – not an artificial substitute.

On November 8, the voters should vote “No” on Proposal One. In doing so, they will send a clear message to the state – both to the governor and the Legislature – to stop trying to one-up each other and start reforming the system.

Mr. Hemmerdinger is chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organization.