The following information was supplied by the New York State Division of the Budget, in response to the NYHIST-L posting by Cindy Amrhein, Town of Alabama Historian (Genesee County), on Apr. 15, 2002.

Jim Folts
Moderator, NYHIST-L
New York State Archives
State Education Department



This message relates to a note posted on the NYHIST-L list dealing with the 2002-03 Executive Budget recommendations regarding the Office of Cultural Education. The posting may be misleading in two important respects:

First, the Governor's Executive Budget does not propose any change in the financing of the programs currently supported by the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund.  The dedicated fees of about $11 million a year generated under this program will continue to be used for technical assistance to local governments on records management issues, Local Government Records Management Improvement grants, the Archives Partnership Trust and the Documentary Heritage program.

Secondly, the Governor's Executive Budget proposal will substantially increase funding for the administration of the Cultural Education programs currently administered by the State Education Department.  The funding level for these programs was about $23 million in 2001-02, including employee fringe benefits.  The proposed increase in the fees for filing documents with county clerks will generate more than $30 million annually for the same programs.  Given the current fiscal constraints facing the State, this new revenue source will provide the means to support additional investment in the vital programs of the State Museum, State Archives and the State Library.