Core Mission Budgeting

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2008-09 Agency Core Mission Budgeting Reports

For years, state government spending has increased at an exponential rate without a fundamental reevaluation of how taxpayer money is spent. Governor Paterson believes that given our current fiscal crisis, we simply cannot continue this kind of budgetary inertia.  As such, he has directed his agencies to help separate the critical functions of state government from those that we can no longer afford. This will help the state direct its limited resources to the highest priority projects.

To begin this process, earlier this year, for the first time in history, Governor Paterson directed every state agency commissioner to create a comprehensive inventory of all of the programs that they administer, including the dollars spent and employees dedicated to each activity. He further charged commissioners to designate whether they believe each program had a high, medium, or low relation to the agency’s core mission.

These designations represent policy advice from commissioners to Governor Paterson, and there may be many different interpretations of how various programs should be characterized.  Moreover, they do not indicate what actions will ultimately be taken in Governor Paterson’s Executive Budget proposal to the Legislature. Those decisions will be made after a thorough and deliberative budget development process.

It should also be noted that even programs designated as having a low relation to an agency’s core mission may still be worthy initiatives with laudable goals. But in this time of unprecedented fiscal challenges, even many worthy programs will experience reductions in funding. Closing the state’s substantial budget deficits will require many difficult decisions. And these core mission reports will help policymakers do so in a more thoughtful and informed manner.

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