Rockefeller Institute to Assist State Fiscal Panel

By Bob Smith

Rochester, NY – While Governor Paterson campaigns across New York to spread his message of fiscal austerity, his second in command, Lt. Governor Richard Ravitch, is launching the work of a fiscal planning task force. Its job is to find ways to stabilize New York's finances in the long term.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government at SUNY Albany has been asked to consult and provide research for the Lieutenant Governor's fiscal panel. Its deputy director Robert Ward says we need to deal not only with balancing the current year's budget, but structural deficits starting in 2011 and stretching far into the future.

Ward says the work of developing a long term fiscal plan is just beginning, and that every aspect of state spending will be on the table. He notes that the state constitution requires that children be provided a sound education and the state's needy be supported. But he expects a lot of attention to be directed at how to fulfill those mandates in a more affordable way.