“New York is facing economic devastation not seen since the
Great Depression,” DiNapoli said. “New York and other hard-hit states need the
federal government to step up and provide assistance, or the state will have to
take draconian actions to balance its budget. We need Washington to set aside
the partisan bickering and deliver substantial relief to New Yorkers now.”
The 2020-21 Enacted Budget provides the Executive broad
authority to reduce most local assistance and state agency spending in order to
maintain budget balance. The budget is deemed out of balance if actual tax
receipts are less than 99 percent of estimated tax receipts, or actual
disbursements are more than 101 percent of estimated disbursements, as measured
at three points during the year (April 1-30, May 1-June 30, and July 1-December
31).
The state's current Financial Plan assumed the budget would
be out of balance when the April measurement period was completed. Now that
April numbers are final, the state Division of the Budget may propose spending
reductions or other options.
Other items of note in the report:
-On an all governmental funds basis, PIT collections were
more than $7 billion lower than in April 2019, primarily due to the
postponement of the filing deadline for tax returns. Sales tax collections
reflected the significant economic impact from the pandemic, with April
receipts $332 million below what they were a year ago.
-The General Fund ended April with a balance of $10.1
billion, $1.3 billion above Enacted Budget projections.
