Gov. Eliot Spitzer was in Auburn last Thursday morning to address a breakfast meeting of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce to, ostensibly, tout his new “Billion Dollar Fund For Upstate.” This has become his cornerstone, at least as far as upstate New York communities are concerned, to move his budget proposals forward. Mixed in his tour of upstate communities was more than a little politics, without a lot of details, of how much everything he proposes to do will cost overall.

It is no secret that upstate has been hemorrhaging jobs, population and wealth for some time. The big question is how you address such problems. Spitzer touted what some of his priorities are with the rollout of such programs as his “City to City” initiative and a likely property tax cap proposal. The latter won't be announced until 45 days after the start of the new fiscal year that starts a month from tomorrow.

Yet, the $1 billion is part of a bigger spending package, which may not be as easy to fully identify and pin Spitzer down on. For example, he suggested to the crowd of nearly 200 at the Holiday Inn that at issue is not whether the money is needed, but “how best to use it.” Taxpayers should be concerned about the accumulation of new spending and increases that Spitzer has suggested. He indicated that the 5 percent growth budget he proposed last month is “triage.” Making matters worse for those who look at New York's finances, is that the spending will likely not stop at 5 percent.

The claim on Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who saw his majority status shrink by one Tuesday night with the election of Democrat Dale Aubertine to the Senate, that there was more money in this year's budget to spend, may show how the politics of the “Billion Dollar Fund” may play out.

Democrats can taste the possibility of picking up one or two seats this fall, when all of the state Senate is up for election and, thus, control. Spitzer knows that he has the ability to put pressure on GOP senators, who want part of the $1 billion for their own constituents and show they can “bring home the bacon.”

In exchange they may have to go along with his $21 million in costly new education spending (some of which he does not clearly identify whether it requires new programs or can be used to defray costs of existing programs) or his goal to provide health insurance to some of the 400,000 children in the Empire State who are not covered now.

The end result is that the “Billion Fund For Upstate” will cost more with the state Senate in play.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com