2004 Yellow Book
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GENERAL STATE CHARGES (Summary) View Details

		Adjusted Appropriation 2003-04	Executive Request 2004-05	Change	Percent Change

AGENCY SUMMARY
	General Fund	2,279,158,900	2,610,816,000	331,657,100	14.6%
Total for AGENCY SUMMARY:		2,279,158,900	2,610,816,000	331,657,100	14.6%

Budget Highlights

The General State Charges budget provides General Fund support for two types of centralized funding: fringe benefits for State employees and fixed costs paid by the State for a variety of activities. These are costs that are incurred by all agencies and are calculated on a government-wide basis. Fringe benefits for State employees funded through the General Fund appear in the General State Charges budget, whereas fringe benefits for State employees supported through Special Revenue Funds do not appear in this budget but instead, appear in individual agency budgets. The General State Charges budget is included in the Public Protection and General Government appropriation bill.

The Executive requests an All Funds appropriation for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2004-05 of $2,610,816,000, an increase of $331,657,100, or 14.6 percent over SFY 2003-04. Market conditions affecting pension fund investments and continued escalation of health care costs have caused significant increases in spending for employee pension benefits and health insurance.

The Executive recommends a SFY 2004-05 General Fund appropriation of $1,546,786,000 for the State’s contribution to the Health Insurance Fund. This reflects a 13 percent increase over SFY 2003-04. The Executive proposes no changes to employee or retiree contributions or co-pays.

The Executive recommends a SFY 2004-05 appropriation of $566,700,000, for the public retirement system, representing a State contribution rate of 6.5 percent.

The Executive recommends a deficiency for General State Charges that proposes language that would provide authorization for the use of existing appropriations to support the expenses of the New York State Commission on Education Reform in compliance with the Court of Appeals decision in the case of Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York.

Article VII

The Executive proposes legislation for pension reform to address the increases affecting local government and State pension contributions and to also offer fiscal relief to local governments through more flexible pension funding laws. The legislation would impose strict rules on funding new benefits and require reporting from New York State and Local Retirement Systems. This bill would require the State Comptroller to evaluate and consider options to mitigate the scheduled spike in contribution rates and improve the basis for retirement system funding by:

Modifying the accounting method used to include investment experience; Lengthening the amortization period for recent benefit improvements; Establishing a reserve fund for minimum contributions; Evaluating the minimum contributions requirement; and Using actual, as opposed to projected, salaries for billing purposes.

The Executive also proposes Article VII legislation to establish a market-based index for determining the rate of interest to be applied in court judgments against the State, local governments and certain public authorities. The current rate of nine percent, established in 1982, would be replaced with a rate equal to the average of the one-year constant maturity Treasury yields.

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