The COVID-19 pandemic ended a period of economic expansion in New York City during which new records for population, tourism, employment, and property values were achieved. As a result, City revenues grew rapidly from FY 2010 to FY 2019, enabling City spending to grow by 55 percent, nearly four times the rate of inflation, and provide a budget cushion of more than 10 percent of City-funded revenues at the start of FY 2020.

New York ranks seventh among all the states in the percentage of adults who are experiencing food scarcity, at 14 percent compared to the 11 percent national rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest Household Pulse Survey.

Although New York City was an early epicenter for COVID-19, only 45.6 percent of firms in the City received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, below the national average of 50.9 percent.

Unemployment rates for New York State, New York City and the balance of the State spiked upward in April 2020. At that point, and in the months immediately before, the percentages of officially unemployed workers in the City and in the rest of the State were nearly identical — but those numbers have since diverged sharply.

This past year, New York faced extraordinary fiscal challenges as a result of the economic downturn, the failure to exercise budgetary restraint during more prosperous times, and the failure to act quickly when the State’s finances began to show signs of difficulty, as well as the collapse of the stock market through 2002 and the devastation, both in human and financial terms, of 9-11.

At the end of the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the State’s General Fund was able to report an operating surplus of $3 billion, largely as a result of using the proceeds of tobacco bonds to pay operating expenses.

Last fiscal year, the process by which the budget was constructed improved immeasurably. The budget was passed in a timely fashion, and more legislators were involved in crafting the final product.

As the current administration ends its tenure, the State faces significant financial challenges. The 2006-07 enacted budget contains an estimated two-year budget gap of as much as $13.9 billion, with spending projected to grow twice as fast as revenues between 2005-06 and 2008-09.