Now that President Barack Obama has signed the $787 billion stimulus package, those impacted, from banks and corporations to state and local governments are trying to figure out, what, if any, piece of the fiscal pie they will get.

Some are looking at the details and finding that the rules that are part of the package may not work for them. Yet, what all organizations should be looking at, especially if they want to use the funds to help them out of their budget crises, is whether using those funds that way creates greater problems down the road.

For some governments there is a feeling that they don't qualify for the funds available for “shovel-ready projects,” simply because their communities or more than likely, state bureaucracies don't allow for such within the timelines proscribed. For example, New York's education department doesn't seem to have a fast track process that may allow local districts to access stimulus money for capital projects in time. The end result is that while it may sound like hundreds of millions may be available for schools, the reality is that they may not qualify procedurally.

Smart local school districts should not simply see that stimulus funds could assist in replacing what looks to be multi-million dollar reductions of aid from Albany. While it is unclear how many millions might be available and that it may come out over a 27-month period (not just one lump sum), injecting cash without looking at its long-term effects, could make life for districts, their students, parents and taxpayers even worse by the time 2011 rolls around. For example, by not addressing operating costs, and just using the money to address the shortages in state aid may only result in larger budget gaps and tougher decisions two years out.

On the other hand, Albany lawmakers, which have for the most part put off detailed budget talks for the budget that is due in 39 days, may be stalling so they can see what will be coming from Washington to help close the $15 billion budget gap. While that may seem sound, the problem is that without structural reforms or changes, the pain in the long term will only be greater. Albany may be following the old political maxim of columnist Mark Shields, who is often fond of suggesting that a day is a lifetime in politics and a week is forever, meaning that there may be no positive political percentages in making hard choices this year, if they can be put off to the 2011-12 budget, that occurs after Gov. David Paterson and the full Legislature are up for election.

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