Reports

The 2019-20 fiscal year brought the convergence of two dramatically different periods to New York State. The nation’s longest recorded economic expansion continued to generate overall job growth through most of the fiscal year before finally ending in February, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced severe limits on business activity and significantly impacted the State’s economy.

This snapshot highlights the results for counties, cities, towns and villages that reported for local fiscal years ending (FYE) 2019. These scores, therefore, provide a baseline for local government fiscal preparedness in the period just prior to the pandemic.

While New York State has regained more than one in four of the jobs it lost in March and April, the unprecedented scale of losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic leaves a daunting path ahead for the State to climb back to pre-recession employment levels. For New York City, the picture is even more troubling.

In March and April 2020, Congress passed four stimulus bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the public health system and the economy. As Congress debates additional relief measures, it is worth reviewing the targeting of the initial funding in order to inform new policy to counter the virus and its economic effects.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.

New York State’s total employment count hit an all-time high of more than 9.8 million in February, reflecting net gains of nearly 2 million jobs since April 1996. 

Nearly three-quarters of New York State small businesses received assistance in recent months through the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to Census Bureau survey data for the week ending June 27.

The economic, social and budgetary fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City has been unprecedented, while the loss of life has been unimaginable. Restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the disease triggered a national recession. In New York City, job losses in March and April were the largest since the Great Depression.

Approved payments to New York recipients for Unemployment Insurance totaled $32.1 billion from March 1 through July 17, with steep increases in payments following the onset of the pandemic.

The report summarizes most recently completed data (fiscal year ending 2018) found in these annual reports. In addition to reviewing IDA data, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) provides training to IDA officials on various topics, including recent legislative reforms and how to improve their compliance with reporting requirements. 

Interactive Map

As was widely reported, New York’s unemployment rate has soared upward in recent months, with May's 14.5 percent nearly four times the 3.7 percent in February. But that rate is only one measure of the impact of lost jobs.

New York City has been the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The economic, social and budgetary impacts have been unprecedented, while the loss of life has been unimaginable.

New York State has experienced difficult budgets many times over its history. Seldom if ever, however, has the State faced the level of economic and revenue challenges identified in this year’s Enacted Budget Financial Plan as a consequence of the COVID19 pandemic.

New York State is facing extraordinary challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Its punishing impacts include shutting down much of the economy, throwing millions of Americans out of work, and devastating State finances.

The New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP), administered by the State Department of Civil Service (Civil Service), is one of the nation's largest public sector health insurance programs. NYSHIP covers over 1.2 million active and retired State, local government, and school district employees, and their dependents. The Empire Plan is the primary health benefits plan for NYSHIP, covering 1.1 million of the NYSHIP members.

Inadequate capital funding and poor management practices have contributed to a marked deterioration in the mass transit system operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In addition, the MTA’s operating budget faces significant challenges.

Local officials are statutorily required to file certain financial reports annually with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC). While most local governments file within required timeframes, some do not. A relatively small number of local governments are severely delinquent—failing to file for three or more years—which calls into question the financial standing of the locality as well as the effectiveness of the management of the local government in general.

New York’s school districts are responsible for one of the most important functions of government – educating children from kindergarten through 12th grade. Each district must navigate a complex set of State rules and local needs and determine how to fund its programs using a mix of local property taxes and State and federal aid sources. This report provides regional analysis of certain financial and demographic data for New York’s school districts outside of New York City. It presents this information to identify the levels and recent trends in revenue, expenditures, district wealth, student characteristics and outcomes, and special education services that could impact district budgets.

School District Level Data [xlsx]

Every year, certain issues emerge as particular challenges in the State Budget. Clearly, among the most difficult this year is the structural budgetary imbalance in the State’s Medicaid program.

On January 16, 2020, the City of New York released a four-year financial plan for fiscal years 2020 through 2024 (the “January Plan”). The January Plan reflects the strength in the local economy, which has helped fuel personal and business tax collections; new agency needs; and an expansion in the citywide savings program.