On Friday, the watchdog groups Reinvent Albany and Citizens Budget Commission released a report finding that there was $14.8 billion in proposed “lump sum” pots of money in Hochul’s budget proposal.

“One of the responsibilities of elected leaders is to tell the people where the money goes,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, which commissioned the report along with Reinvent Albany.

Reinvent Albany and the Citizens Budget Commission released a joint report, titled “Lump Sum Warning,” on Friday arguing that such spending can “fuel undemocratic and special interest driven policies since they are allocated in private, outside of the relatively more transparent process of negotiating, publishing and adopting the State budget.”

Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein said it was disappointing the budget agreement won't be reached by the start of the fiscal year. "Delays diminish New Yorkers' confidence that their government can fulfill its obligations well," he said in a statement.

Fiscal watchdog Citizens Budget Commission said in a statement that “delays diminish New Yorkers’ confidence that their government can fulfill its obligations well.”

The Citizen’s Budget Commission warns that Hochul’s spending plan means a $15 billion-a-year structural deficit by 2027, while the Assembly and state Senate proposals translate to a $20 billion-a-year hole.

“Without a new budget, all our same tax policies are still in place,” said Patrick Orecki, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit that analyzes the New York state and city budgets.

The research director at the Citizens Budget Commission, Ana Champeny, told the Sun that the city planned for a decline in bonuses of 23.4 percent, as opposed to the 26 percent actually reported.

Hochul was criticized last year by a Citizens Budget Commission report for including $920 million in "lump sum" appropriations for capital projects in the 2022-23 budget, which allowed her broad discretion over the spending that may have benefited her politically. At the time, Hochul's office noted that it had the $6 billion in cash to pay for the projects.

According to a recent report by the Citizens Budget Commission, the final total of units that received the tax breaks was 12,865. This came at a cost in 2022 dollars of $132,000 per unit, the report estimated, but of course the tax revenue losses might have been far greater had the buildings remained vacant.

Patrick Orecki of the non-partisan Citizens Budget Commission says New York officials should instead slow spending, "We think that keeping spending growth to about 2% annually year-over-year going forward would be enough savings over time to not only close the budget caps, but also accommodate the loss of some of the non-recurring resources.

The CBC’s new policy brief warns that Hochul would produce a $15 billion-a-year structural deficit by 2027, while the Assembly and state Senate proposals translate to a $20 billion annual hole.