Thomas P. DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

Few New Yorkers may know who the state comptroller is or what he does.

But every New Yorker depends upon the person in that job.

If you’re a public employee, your pension lies in the state comptroller’s hands. If you’re a taxpayer, your town and village taxes are based in part on his work, as he sets those government employers’ pension contribution rates. If you have sought unclaimed funds, his office handles them. And if you deal with any public agency, the comptroller’s oversight and auditing functions are paramount.

For nearly 20 years, those responsibilities have fallen to Democrat Thomas P. DiNapoli, who has successfully managed New York’s $310 billion pension fund with a steady hand and a thoughtful, careful mindset. As the sole trustee, DiNapoli, 72, of Great Neck, has focused on keeping it fully funded, with a solid albeit risk-averse long-term rate of return of nearly 6%; its most recent quarter was slightly higher. Even the existence of such quarterly data is thanks to DiNapoli.

Contract evaluations and budget assessments are important, too, but DiNapoli highlights more unusual audits, such as the one his office did regarding the state’s insufficient efforts to address Black maternal healthcare.

Republican Joseph Hernandez, 54, of Manhattan, has an American dream story. He fled Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 and became a Wall Street investor and venture capitalist who founded multiple businesses. Hernandez seeks to increase state pension fund returns and pledges to add an in-house investment team to reduce fees. He points to other pension funds with better returns, but some are not as well funded.

Hernandez suggests using $10 billion of the fund to expand efforts to invest in and attract new companies and jobs. The existing program now invests about $3 billion, according to DiNapoli. Hernandez promises to speak out regarding fiscal concerns and fraud. And he favors additional auditing efforts, but suggested only the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Medicaid and the state Education Department — areas the comptroller has long tackled.

Hernandez is smart and successful, but it’s unwise to run a public pension system like a private investment, or to advocate getting government employers’ contributions to zero.

But as DiNapoli heads into what would be his fifth full term, he should step outside the box he has established for himself, and more forcefully use his bully pulpit to call out state officials’ fiscally irresponsible decisions and risks from the marketplace and lawmaker actions. Expanding economic development investments and utilizing sophisticated AI tools to find problematic spending patterns to uncover fraud and waste are worth considering. DiNapoli rightly wants to audit more school districts and industrial development agencies; he should prioritize that.

As state and local workers fight for pension sweeteners, remember that they haven’t had to worry about the health and stability of their pensions. That’s thanks to the stewardship of the current state comptroller.

Newsday endorses DiNapoli.