51 - Interchange of appropriations or items therein.

§ 51. Interchange of appropriations or items therein. No appropriation  shall  be  increased  or  decreased  by  transfer or otherwise except as  provided for  in  this  section  or  section  fifty-three,  sixty-six-f,  seventy-two  or  ninety-three  of  this chapter, or article eight of the  education law. Whenever an appropriation  is  made  from  a  fund  to  a  department  or  agency  and  is  accompanied  by  a schedule showing the  programs or purposes for which such appropriation may be  expended,  the  amount  appropriated for any item or items within any program or purpose  for  such  department  or  agency  may  be  increased  or  decreased  by  interchange  with amounts appropriated from such fund for any other item  or items within the  same  program  or  purpose,  or  with  other  items  appropriated from such fund not in the same program or purpose but which  are contained in the state comptroller's classification of items as last  promulgated,  with the approval of the director of the budget, who shall  file such approval with the office of the state comptroller  and  copies  thereof  with  the  senate  finance  committee and the assembly ways and  means committee. The amounts appropriated to a department or agency from  a particular fund in a fiscal year for the programs or purposes of  such  department or agency may be interchanged among such programs or purposes  under  the same conditions as heretofore described except that the total  amount appropriated for any program or purpose may not be  increased  or  decreased  by more than the aggregate of five per cent of the first five  million dollars, four percent of the second  five  million  dollars  and  three  per  cent  of  amounts  in  excess  of  ten million dollars of an  appropriation for a program or  purpose.  The  allocation  of  lump  sum  appropriations  from  a  fund  made  to a department or agency for later  distribution to programs or purposes  or  to  the  units  of  the  state  university  to  the  allocation  of  lump sum appropriations made to all  state  departments  and  agencies  for  later  allocation  for  specific  programs  or  purposes  shall  not  be  deemed  to be part of such total  increase or decrease.