New York’s government has long been the poster child for dysfunction. But low and behold, they’ve managed to pull off the seemingly impossible – they passed a budget before the April 1 deadline.

It has been five years since they’ve adopt a state-wide spending plan on time. It’s the first time since 1983 that they’ve managed it ahead of schedule. And they’ve closed a purported $10 billion budget shortfall without further exploitation of our already overburdened tax base.

Our state leaders deserve kudos for this achievement. Last year, if you’ll remember, the budget was 125 days late and included billions of dollars in new taxes and fees.

Governor Andrew Cuomo should be proud.

Of course, there will be repercussions to what our esteemed governor is calling “a historic and transformational budget.” Not least of all steep cuts to education, only a minuscule portion of which was restored in the final version of the plan. These are the things I’m losing sleep over these days.

I tossed and turned for hours on Monday night, after Norwich’s school board meeting. Silly, I know, since I don’t even live in the district. Nor do I have any kids. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I’ve had more than my share of sleepless nights this budget season, not only about Norwich, but the other four districts I cover as well.