Changes the state fiscal year from April first to June first, changes time frames for school district elections and notice of elections and submission of a property

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends section 3 of the state finance law to change the start of the state fiscal year to June 1.

Section 2 of the bill amends subdivision 6 of section 23 of the state finance law to require the senate finance committee, assembly ways and means committee, and division of budget to reconvene on or after April 15 to revise the consensus forecast of the economy and estimates of receipts for the current and ensuing fiscal years. By May 1, the senate finance committee, assembly ways and means committee, and division of budget shall issue a revised version of the joint executive-legislative consensus report that was initially due March 1. In cases when a revised joint executive-legislative consensus report is not issued by May 1, the comptroller, on or before May 5, shall provide estimates for receipts for the current and ensuing state fiscal years.

Section 3 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 2022 of the educa- tion law to change the uniform school budget voting day to the fourth Tuesday of June, rather than in May as provided currently.

Section 4 of the bill amends subdivision 2 of section 2601-a of the education law to eliminate in 2011 and thereafter the second Tuesday of May as the alternative uniform school budget voting day.

Section 5 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 2003 of the educa- tion law to require each common school district to advertise in local newspapers notices about school budget votes two times in the three weeks preceding the annual meeting and election, with the first adver- tisement appearing eighteen days prior to the vote. Each district shall also predominately post on its official school web site this budget vote information throughout the three weeks next preceding the annual meet- ing, with the first publication appearing eighteen days before the meet- ing.

Section 6 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 2004 of the educa- tion law to require each union free school district to advertise notices in local newspapers about school budget votes two times in the three weeks preceding the vote, with the first advertisement appearing eigh- teen days prior to the vote. Each district shall also predominately post on its official school web site this budget vote information throughout the three weeks next preceding the annual meeting, with the first publi- cation appearing eighteen days before the meeting.

Section 7 of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 7 of section 1608 of the education law to require school districts to submit their property tax report cards to the department of education no later than the eighteen days prior to the statewide uniform voting day.

Section 8 of the bill amends section 2515 of the education law to set the fiscal year in city school districts of cities with less than 125,000 inhabitants to begin August 1st and end July 31st, rather than beginning July 1st and ending June 30th as provided currently.

Section 9 of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 2006 of the educa- tion law to set the uniform school budget revoting day as the fourth Tuesday of July and an alternative day as the third Tuesday of July for common school districts.

Section 10 of the bill amends paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section 2007 of the education law to set the uniform school budget revoting day as the fourth Tuesday of July and an alternative day as the third Tues- day of July for union free school districts.

Section 11 of the bill sets forth the effective date.

Justification

Much has changed since the Legislature last changed the start of New York State's fiscal year, When lawmakers in 1943 shifted New York to an April 1 fiscal year, the State suffered from budgets that

were passed too early; the State typically ended its fiscal year on June 30 with huge surpluses that irked taxpayers; and the Legislature often passed the Executive Budget with little to no changes. While the ration- ale for changing the fiscal year in 1943 had its merits, they are not applicable to modern times.

A host of deficiencies in the budget process stem from the April 1 start date. These problems range from poor revenue forecasting to difficulties in establishing a Thin revenue consensus between Executive and Legisla- tive fiscal leaders, These problems often contribute to others later in the process, such as a lack of transparency in the form of a shortened conference committee process or inadequate consideration of the budget before the vote on it. Also, when actual revenues fall short of these estimates, the Legislature often finds itself reconvening to fill multi-billion-dollar budget holes.

A June 1 fiscal year is a superior option for New York. ft would afford legislators six weeks to make use of the most recent quarterly personal income tax data, which is due on April 15. To ensure this vital tax data that is incorporated into the budget negotiation process, this bill would require Executive and Legislative fiscal leaders to reconvene on or after April 15 and by May 1 issue a revised version of the consensus forecast of the economy and estimates of receipts they agreed upon two months earlier.

Further, to ensure school districts know how much state aid they will receive in the ensuing fiscal year, the third-Tuesday-in-May uniform school budget voting day would be pushed past the start of the fiscal year on June 1. This bill proposes a fourth-Tuesday-of-June uniform school budget voting day. This later uniform voting day would provide district trustees with ample time to prepare budgets with accurate state aid figures and eliminate much of the guesswork they are often forced to perform under an April 1 budget cycle. To address conflicts caused by the fiscal year state date shall be moved to August 1 and the uniform revoting day shall be shifted to the fourth Tuesday of July from the third Tuesday of June.

Fiscal impact on the state

Minimal.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on January 1, 2011.