Our state is at a crossroads. After years of overtaxing and overspending, we are at the fiscal brink. We can continue down our current road to financial ruin or we can take a new course – a road to recovery.
Yesterday I submitted my Executive Budget and today [Feb. 3] I released a message about it that you can see at www.governor.ny.gov.
The budget is designed to get our state on the right path by eliminating a $10 billion deficit without raising taxes or borrowing. Just as importantly, it will transform our state’s budget process itself.
New York State has been spending far too much for far too long and we simply can no longer afford it. We must realign our state spending with reality. Our budget efforts are not just a cutting exercise, but a management exercise. We will redesign and reinvent state government based on the principles of quality and efficiency.
We are also taking on the decades-old system of basing budgets on a body of law that ignores fiscal realities and actual performance while driving exorbitant growth rates. We will work to create new laws that reflect the true economic conditions impacting our state and that incorporate achievement as a measure of success.
I know that we can change our course. No other state has what we have in New York: our history, our diversity, our people, and our legacy of leading the nation forward. With your help, New York can lead the way again. Let your voice be heard. Contact your state legislators to let them know that you want change in Albany.
Together, we can seize this pivotal movement to set our state on the path to prosperity.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
PS: If you would like to see my entire budget presentation or are interested in learning more about the budget, please visit www.governor.ny.gov/budget.
