The practice has been frowned upon for years by state Comptroller Nancy Wyman, who says borrowing for normal operating expenses is bad fiscal policy.

Borrowing has helped governors, legislatures, and state agencies avoid budget cuts, tax increases, and the state spending cap, the newspaper reported.

A precise accounting of the state’s borrowing to pay ongoing expenses and make short-term purchases was not available. No one agency appears to collect the data.

The newspaper’s review found that the state: is borrowing nearly $5 million this year to pay the salaries of 54 Public Works Department employees; sold about $317 million in five-year state bonds to cover deficits in the state’s general fund in 2002 and 2003, including a $98 million bond issue last June; borrowed tens of millions in the last decade to buy computers, two-way radios, office furniture, motor vehicles, fire protection suits, and other equipment with relatively short useful lives and small price tags.

Borrowing money to pay yearly and short-term expenses costs more than paying them out of pocket, increases the state debt and yearly payments on the state debt, and may drive up the cost of financing for short- or long-term purposes.

But governors and lawmakers have found borrowing a tempting alternative to cutting spending or raising taxes.

“It is the easy way out,” said Lt Gov Kevin B. Sullivan, who was president pro tem of the state Senate from 1997 to 2004.

The state borrows money by selling bonds to private investors. The state government promises to repay the money over time with interest. The payment on the state debt this year tops $1.7 billion — 12 percent of the state budget.

Borrowing makes fiscal sense for long-term investments — school construction, highways and bridges, land purchases.

One example is that past administrations and legislatures authorized $181.5 million in short-term borrowing in the last 11 years to shift routine equipment purchases from agency budgets, including $18 million for this year.

This spares state agencies, governors, and legislators from having to choose between spending for programs or buying needed equipment. It also swells the state budget, increases the state debt, and the purchases are not counted toward the spending cap.

Gov M. Jodi Rell’s office said in a statement that Rell opposes the use of state bonds to pay for salaries and other current expenses. Rell also believes such borrowing should be stopped.

Rell, however, included the same kind of borrowing this year in her first budget proposal.

The governor has proposed cutting $15.6 million from agency budgets next year by making equipment purchases on credit. Her budget also relies on borrowed money to pay salaries.

“This is Public Financing 101. You don’t bond for operating expenditures,” said D. Dowd Muska, a tax and budget policy analyst with the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, a libertarian think tank based in Hartford.

Robert Genuario, the governor’s budget director, called the practice “limited.”