Posted on 02/19/2020 1:11:34 PM PST by karpov
In the face of a projected $6 billion deficit, Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to shift millions of dollars in salaries from the government payroll to the capital budget — thus giving the appearance he’s lowering operating costs, critics charge.
A prime example is Cuomo’s bid to transfer employee salaries from the Department of Environmental Conservation to the $300 million Environmental Protection Fund in the capital budget.
Assembly Environmental Committee Chairman Steve Englebright (D-Suffolk) said that Cuomo shouldn’t pile the salaries there.
“The Environmental Protection Fund has never been used for general operations of the agency. This is not a program specific need. This is just an off-loading of agency personnel,” Englebright told The Post.
“It risks the long-term viability of this very targeted capital program. The raid of the capital fund needs to be rejected. It’s the camel’s nose under the tent,” Englebright added.
Senates Environmental Committee Chairman Todd Kaminsky (D-Nassau) also opposes the move, a spokesman said.
The EPF funds $152 million for land acquisition and open space, $39 million for recycling programs, $89.2 million for parks and recreational programs, including zoos and botanical gardens, and $19.7 million for climate change initiatives.
But language covering the EPF’s budget line says, “a portion may be used for the payment of personal service expenses incurred on or after April 1, 2020.
One budget analyst said Cuomo has sought to shift more salaries off-budget to claim he’s staying within his self-imposed 2 percent spending cap for his government.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Capitalizing operating expenses is usually accounting fraud.
The liberal shell game. Don’t actually cut any spending; just cook the books.
In the private sector, that is grounds for prison.
state retirees who make enormous pensions do not pay state tax.....try starting there governor...
Wall Street has been in a 10 year bull market, making record profits - and NY State is still $6 billion in the red?
Of course, in 10 years NY State spending has gone from $126 billion/year to $178 billion/year
They move to Florida..
If it is smoke and multiple mirrors, it is not premeditated fraud.
Do more smoke and mirrors. I recently read a report where the "general fund" black hole siphons from just about all fee revenue and then never allocates where or how that money is spent. It's unbelievable how mismanaged the money is, they should have line by line allocations online for all to see.
I was going say exactly this. In a public company the auditors would hang you from a wire in the lobby if you submitted a budget like that.
And there folks, is the Democrat Party on displaying all their glory.
They take money that’s to be used to help the environment, and use it to buy votes instead.
The only people who still support the Democrats have criminal hearts.
Not the same, besides their law allows for this.
One of the key “rules” of financial accounting is the accrual principle, which states that income and expenses should be allocated to the periods in which they occur.
So, if these operating expenses contribute benefits over an extended period, it accords with that principle to allocate them over an extended period—i.e., capitalize them initially, and claim them as expenses for a defined period. An example of that in real estate accounting would be that acquisition costs are generally rolled into the capital price of the property and depreciated slowly over time.
However, it’s not generally considered legit to take ongoing annual expenses—operating expenses—and not deduct them in the year in which they occur if they have no such long-term benefits.
The reason for this is that for a non-governmental entity, such accounting makes profits look better than they really are, for a while, and is therefore misleading to investors.
Now, government makes its own rules, so this may be legal for them to do. But it is fudging the books, IMHO.
PS I’m not an accountant, standard Holiday Inn disclaimer, but I’ve been in business, and read a lot of financial statements in the course of investing.
Someone should ask the feds just where the Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac deficits are in the budget. As I understand it, they are “off the books”.
All government budgets are unicorn poop and pixie dust anymore. Jail time for real people in the real world, business as usual in government.
Another rat criminal scumbag
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