As someone who served in government for over 20 years, I still enjoy watching our state budget process. It is like tuning in to watch the playoffs, even though you don't watch the season. It is a true window into government operation, or lack thereof, because the budget is when it gets serious. To paraphrase Willie Sutton, the budget is where the money is.
New York's state budgets were legendary for their graphic and dramatic displays of dysfunction. It was an annual show that ran for decades.
When I was governor, we faced an unprecedented fiscal crisis that required my administration to take bold action to cut billions of dollars of deficit. These tough choices caused an onslaught of opposition from the Legislature and the special interests, derailing what should have been an orderly budget process.
I had to threaten to shut down the government in order to force action — it was budget by brinksmanship. It worked but it wasn't pretty.
Now, there is a new paradigm at the state Capitol. Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the government is working better than it has in decades.
The state has passed its third on-time budget in as many years — a feat I thought unfathomable for Albany. Three on-time budgets hasn't happened for more than 30 years.
More than just timely, the budget is smart, bold and progressive. The budget keeps the state's economy moving in the right direction by investing in job creation, capping spending, and most importantly, cutting taxes. It also promotes a bold, progressive agenda.
On the economics, Gov. Cuomo's approach of cap and cut — cap spending at 2 percent and cut taxes — has restored confidence in, and momentum behind, our state's economy. The budget cuts taxes for middle-class New Yorkers to the lowest tax rates in 60 years.
The budget also includes a new child tax credit, putting an extra $350 back in more than one million New York families' pockets. The budget cuts $800 million in taxes for small businesses, cuts red tape and reduces the crushing burden of unemployment and workers' compensation insurance for employers. These reforms will save businesses billions of dollars and, even more, will send the right pro-growth signal.
The budget also delivers on long-fought progressive reforms.
It builds on education reforms by increasing school aid by nearly $1 billion to the highest level in history and investing in universal pre-K and the new Community Schools initiative, which is so important to our inner-city schools, communities and families. It also mandates and institutionalizes a teacher evaluation plan that is the most promising education reform in years.
The budget will increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour, over three years. President Barack Obama has proposed to do the same, but Congress is standing in the way and unlikely to budge.
One disappointment is I that had hoped for passage of the marijuana laws to reform the injustice of stop and frisk. Apparently the Senate Democrats were unable to muster the votes.
Washington stands in stark contrast to Albany. One need only look 400 miles to our south to see what happens when a budget process goes bad. From the sequester, to the debt ceiling crisis, Americans have lost confidence in Washington because it can't solve fiscal issues.
Gov. Cuomo's philosophical blend of fiscal responsibility and social progressivity has allowed him to craft an agenda that spans centrist Republicans and Democrats. Most importantly, it reflects New Yorker's views. Seventy percent support gun control and 80 percent support minimum wage, a millionaire's tax and education reform.
The extremes on both sides of the political spectrum are isolated and exposed. This renewed functionality and achievement has restored New Yorkers' confidence in their government, something the people, and our state, so desperately needed.
David Paterson is a former governor.