Opinion

Andrew delivers

Gov. Cuomo vowed to bring fiscal sanity to Albany — and the $132.5 billion state budget agreed to on Sunday represents a seismic shift in that direction.

The document still must be voted on, but as it stands, the budget:

* Is on time.

* Reduces spending year to year.

* Contains no tax hikes or borrowing.

This is good. Indeed, it would have been unthinkable in the recent past.

But what’s better is that from now on, spending for health care and education will be capped — limited by taxpayers’ ability to pay.

* Union-bought lawmakers henceforth must limit state spending for schools to the rate of growth in personal income.

* Medicaid outlays are now limited to the rate of health-care inflation.

Cuomo calls it “reality-based budget[ing],” but it is more than that: It represents fundamental change in the way Albany conducts its business.

No longer will the spendthrifts define the debate by embedding outlandish growth formulas into “permanent law” — and then sending out the tax collectors to find the necessary cash.

“We must balance this year’s budget,” Cuomo said in February, “but we must also reform the process so that the cycle finally stops.”

And he did.

Thus did this year’s formula-driven $10 billion “deficit” disappear in a cloud of dust.

Ditto, next year’s $15 billion shortfall.

Hallelujah.

Did Cuomo deliver on everything he promised? Of course not.

He vowed to pass a local property-tax cap; that’s not happening this week. He told school districts and local governments they’d see relief from state mandates; as of now, they’ll get none.

Cuomo also had to bow to Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver (D-Weitz & Luxenberg), who stalwartly protected New York’s ambulance-chaser community from caps on “pain and suffering” awards in medical-malpractice suits.

And, unhappily, the governor let the state’s “Last in, first out” teacher-layoff law stand; that will harm public education in the city, should teacher pink slips be needed.

Mayor Bloomberg, for one, says they will be — because the budget shorts the city hundreds of millions that he says Cuomo should have included in his plan.

But Cuomo never promised Bloomberg a nickel in new aid, so while this squabble surely will continue, it’s hard to credit the mayor’s claim.

Meanwhile, the legion of the aggrieved extends beyond City Hall — so the debate will continue elsewhere, as well.

But Cuomo seems to have installed a new dynamic in Albany — and he deserves enormous credit. (As does Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who pretty much had Cuomo’s back the whole way.)

The deal, again, has not yet gotten lawmakers’ official OK; it can yet blow up. And, when dealing with Albany, it’s always necessary to check the fine print.

But so far, so good.