Nicholas Confessore writes in the New York Times - “Buried in the governor’s new budget are provisions that would grant the executive branch sweeping new powers to investigate Wall Street banks, hedge funds and insurance companies, alarming some industry officials and raising the prospect of a major clash with his successor as attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and local prosecutors over high-profile securities and investment cases.

The provisions accompany Mr. Cuomo’s proposed merger of the state’s Insurance and Banking Departments, along with the Consumer Protection Board, into a new Department of Financial Regulation. Mr. Cuomo has argued that those changes are necessary to create a more efficient and modern regulatory framework for businesses and better protection for consumers.

But the budget language would also empower the new agency to issue subpoenas, compel testimony and seek damages and penalties from anyone committing “financial fraud,” a term defined broadly to encompass investments, securities and derivatives marketed and sold by Wall Street investment houses, as well as financial services, life insurance and more.”

Mr. Cuomo’s proposal would also grant the agency authority to investigate any violation of the Martin Act, the 90-year-old statute that gives the New York attorney general the broadest legal powers of any regulator in the nation and which was employed aggressively by Mr. Cuomo and his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, to prosecute Wall Street firms.

The plan startled some in the financial community, and the administration appears to be quickly revising the language to head off potential opposition.

Mr. Cuomo’s communications director, Richard Bamberger, said the governor agreed to remove the Martin Act provisions after business groups raised concerns earlier this month, and alerted Mr. Schneiderman that they would do so. Mr. Bamberger said the provisions had been inserted by mistake and would be struck from the amended proposal Mr. Cuomo will submit in early March.”

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According to the an Associated Press report on LoHud.com - “Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday ordered a study of New York’s minimum- and medium-security prisons to identify those that should close following a decade-long decline in crime rates and inmate populations and the diversion of more drug offenders to treatment programs.

The task force will go to work 10 days after the Legislature approves corrections appropriations for the fiscal year that starts April 1. Under the executive order, the recommendations are due to Commissioner Brian Fischer 30 days after that.”

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In proposing his Executive Budget for the 2011-12 state fiscal year, Governor Cuomo did pretty much what he said he was going to do during his campaign and transition – close the state’s budget gap with spending reductions and reductions in the size of state government, rather than with new or higher taxes. The Business Council has come out in strong support of the Governor’s spending plan.

The Business Council overview of the Fiscal 2012 Executive Budget is available here.

The Business Review of Albany reports that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is appointing Paul Francis to lead a government restructuring effort.

They write: Cuomo said he’s bringing back Paul Francis to serve in a new position: director of agency redesign and efficiency.

Francis will leave his job as chief operating officer of Bloomberg L.P.’s financial products division, where he has served for two years. Francis was previously a top executive at a venture group, Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), Ann Taylor Stores Corp. (NYSE: ANN) and Merrill Lynch & Co.

In addition, Francis ran the state Division of the Budget in 2007, under the tenure of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He served as director of state operations from January to July of 2008.

“Right now, New York state government is too big, too expensive and it is not working for the people of the state of New York. Paul is a brilliant manager who will leave no stone unturned,” said Ken Adams, president of The Business Council of New York State Inc. The Albany-based lobby has 3,000 members and is run by many of the major corporations in the state.

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Ken Lovett of the Daily News writes about Governor-elect Cuomo’s trip to the Tryon Center for Boys in Johnstown.

“Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo held aloft Exhibit A on Monday for government waste: An abandoned youth facility that still employs 30 state workers.

Cuomo toured the Tryon Center for Boys in upstate Johnstown and ripped using tax dollars to have workers “babysit” a building, deeming it “ridiculous.” The facility stopped serving kids in July.

“If you look at a situation like this, then it’s not surprising that people across the state have lost faith and confidence in state government,” he said.”

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From Enough Already NY - “One reason New York has trouble keeping its costs down is that we really don’t know how many people are on the State’s payroll—because there are two payrolls.

An investigation by the New York Times shows that Governor Paterson, to his credit, has been working to reduce spending and shrink the payrolls for the agencies under his direct authority, while an entirely different set of state entities — public authorities like the MTA and the Thruway Authority — are operating autonomously. These groups that receive state funds have been expanding their spending and employees. No one is really sure how many people these entities employ.

This is the ultimate example of government dysfunction. While one hand is dropping a few coins into the savings jar, the other scoops out money by the handful. How can Albany possibly manage its budget effectively if it has no ability to rein in agencies that absorb taxpayer dollars?

A state spending cap is a key part of our Five to Survive reform agenda. This can be accomplished through measures like instituting a hiring freeze and consolidating state agencies, but these efforts will be for naught if they can’t be instituted across the board.

Last year the Public Authorities Reform Act of 2009 was passed in an effort to create more transparency and accountability among these agencies. It established the New York State Authorities Budget Office. This office oversees “the operations and finances of public authorities to assure they are acting in the public interest and consistent with their intended public purpose.” We would say that one of these interests is certainly that these authorities follow the same mandate of budget reduction by which agencies under the governor’s authority must abide.”

To send a message to Albany telling them that you have had Enough Already click here.

In New York, it isn’t hard to find a government that can levy taxes. There are 62 counties, 62 cities, 553 villages, 698 school districts and 932 towns. And then the whopper: 6,927 special districts that include local lighting, sewer, fire, water and drainage districts.

Joseph Spector writes in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - “Add them up and there are 10,092 entities in New York outside New York City that can tax residents. And that number, from the state Attorney General’s Office, is just a best estimate. There could be many more, state officials warn.

Even states that rival New York for the highest property taxes in the nation, such as New Jersey, can’t come close to the number of taxing authorities in the Empire State. New Jersey has about 1,700 governments; neighboring Pennsylvania has about 3,100.

Frustration with high taxes in New York is fueling a revived and spirited push to dissolve governments, particularly villages, and residents are armed with a new law that makes it much easier to do so through a referendum.”

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Nick Reisman of Gannett News Service reports on the first disclosure of bonus and overtime pay for public authorities.

He writes: “The employees of public authorities received more than $6.6 million in extra pay during the 2009-10 fiscal year, according to an oversight office that monitors the entities.

The disclosure of the pay of 21 authorities’ extra pay — which encompasses overtime, bonuses or obligations of collective bargaining contracts — comes as some state lawmakers and good-government groups seek to pry more information from the entities that have been known to guard their privacy.

“It shines a light on what is going on in these authorities and specifically what these people are making,” said Barbara Bartoletti, the legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York. “This is something that the public should know and then it’s up to the public to decide whether or not they want to pay for it.”

More authorities are due to reveal their compensation for the 2009-10 fiscal year, which ended March 31.

Of the 21 authorities and public corporations that reported their compensation and extra pay, the Erie County Medical Center Corp. reported the largest total, about $4.4 million.

Tom Quatroche, a spokesman for the center, said much of the extra compensation reflects back pay as the result of retroactive union agreements.

“Our salaries for our executives are below average nationally and locally,” he said. “Salaries are industry specific. Whether it’s hospitals or car manufacturers, there’s a certain level of salary to attract talent.”

Read the story.

A Journal News editorial is echoing the Business Council’s wish to eliminate some of the more than 700 public and quasi-public agencies that exist in New York State.

File this under the heading, “You have to start somewhere.”

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, who successfully pushed for the Public Authority Reform law that went into effect in March, now proposes eliminating 129 of the more than 700 quasi-public agencies. But these are just the 129 easy ones, as Brodsky himself acknowledges. Many on the list for paring, which includes more than 15 in the Lower Hudson Valley, have long been inactive and don’t even have boards that meet regularly…

There is no reason to keep inactive authorities alive, particularly since they have the ability to issue bonds that add to the state’s debt — that is, should they ever be reconvened . As of yet, the legislation has no sponsor in the Senate. It deserves one.”

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The City of Binghamton and Village of Johnson City are taking a small step, but important, step toward local government consolidation. The two municipalities have agreed to share one police chief.

The Business Council of New York State, Inc. supports local government consolidation to lower costs and to allow property tax reductions. Consolidation in police and fire services are often among the most difficult.

Pressconnects.com reporters Steve Reilly and George Basler write: The “Home of the Square Deal” has struck another bargain.

In separate votes Wednesday night, the Johnson City Board of Trustees and the Binghamton City Council approved an agreement to share the services and the cost — totaling $168,822 in salary and benefits — of a single police chief.

The vote was unanimous in Binghamton, with all seven council members voting for the agreement. In Johnson City, the vote was 4-1, with the lone “no” vote cast by Village Trustee Cindy Novobilski.

On June 1, current Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski will begin splitting his time evenly between the Johnson City Police Department and the Binghamton Police Bureau, serving as the head of each.

“He’s going to respond to where his expertise is needed,” said Johnson City Mayor Dennis Hannon. “If he’s in Binghamton and there’s a serious emergency or major crime in … Johnson City, he’s going to respond and do what he has to do.”

The agreement, which is for a one-year-period, is only to share a chief, not to consolidate the departments, Binghamton council members said.

Read the story.