As New York's budget clock winds down for the start of the 2009-10 fiscal year (the new budget year starts a week from today) the chatter among elected leaders, some shifted to different roles from a year ago, seems eerily familiar. There are claims that the majority is doing the budget “behind closed doors” that we are back to the old “three men in a room.”

Yet, in the end, there are really only two tests that voters will likely be looking at when it comes to the final procedural results (not how much they pay in taxes) #- was the budget on time and did the Legislature reform “member items?”

While with each passing day the likelihood of an on time budget diminishes #- it is still a possibility #- especially because of the politics at stake. With Democrats now in control of both houses of the Legislature and the governor's mansion for the first time in decades #- voters will rightfully judge if they have the ability to deliver when they have achieved their goal of leading each of the three power centers that play a role in the budget process.

It looks as if the biggest snag in the budget process may be the tight numbers in the Senate (Democrats have a 32-30 advantage), where Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith has been continually berated for what has been viewed by some as his inability to deliver legislatively. If the budget is late, this may have some impact on whether Senate Democrats will keep control of their house next year. At the same time, a failure to have an on time budget will reflect on Gov. David Paterson, whose leadership is already being criticized and questioned, as he heads into the 2010 elections.

The other test is whether, in a period where New York has a $14 billion budget gap, will member items, often considered by some as political pork or tools for re-election, flow as freely as they have in the past. Last year the state Senate had nearly $86 million to give out #- 90 percent was said to be given out by the GOP, before they lost control of that body in November.

This time around it will be interesting to see if Democrats, who now run that body will agree to that much spending, when there is such a budget crisis facing the state. More importantly will they keep 90 percent of whatever amount is allocated for themselves to give out in their districts, when for years they have been demanding, when in the minority, parity with the majority?

The real measures of whether business has really changed in Albany will be if there is a budget next Tuesday at midnight and if the way member items occur has changed.

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