Once again the State Budget Director has asked the state agencies to submit flat budgets in his annual letter that can be found here.
In a letter to agency heads on Tuesday, State Budget Director Robert Mujica asked agencies to submit their budget plans by Oct. 18, and also encouraged them to continue performance management plans to monitor their work.
The governor has set a goal – that the Division of Budget says he has hit six times – of holding the growth in state operations spending to 2 percent or less.
“It is as important as ever that we continue the fiscal discipline of holding total State spending growth below two percent, which has been the hallmark of New York’s financial turnaround,” Mujica wrote. “Agencies are directed to submit budget requests for FY 2018 State Operations and Aid to Localities that assume zero growth from FY 2017 cash ceilings (excluding School Aid and Medicaid, which are subject to different caps, and Federal Funds). Furthermore, agencies are advised that planning for the out-years should not include an expectation of spending growth.”