ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York passed a $277 billion state budget that relied on short-term solutions like prepaying debt, according to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. And the financial watchdogs at the Citizens Budget Commission warned that more state spending and unfunded mandates mean multi-billion-dollar deficits on the way.
In the video above, Ana Champeny from CBC addressed economic stress in New York City and State, tallying almost $400 billion in total government spending. The CBC’s briefing on July 16 explained that the state is outspending inflation at a rate of three to one. They calculated that keeping pace with inflation for the past 10 years would have meant $41 billion less in the budget.
The comptroller’s report—published a day before the CBC presentation and available to read at the bottom of this story—pointed out that state spending will grow by 7%, or $18.1 billion, this year. Taking a longer view, CBC tallied that the state’s day-to-day operating spending—which does not account for federal funding or capital projects—has grown at an average rate of 7.2% per year since 2020.
In its official spending plan that implemented the state budget, the New York State Division of the Budget officially forecasted a cumulative budget gap of over $31 billion by the year 2030. Both analyses took aim at those deficit numbers. That’s $6.4 billion in 2028, $10.5 billion in 2029, and $14.7 billion in 2030.
The CBC’s independent analysis argued that short-term accounting strategies like debt prepayments—uses cash on hand to pay anticipated future bills—mask the real long-term deficit of $18 billion in 2030 alone. That hole might be $23 billion deep if the state lets temporary higher tax rates on personal income and businesses expire as scheduled.
New York Balances The Books By Building Debt, Watchdogs Warn
