Reports

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing significant long-term financial challenges, including risks to its capital plan and pressure from escalating debt, while the impacts of climate change demand a sharper focus on preparation for and response to extreme weather events. The passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offers a boost for the agency’s capital plan, but also heightens the need for appropriate prioritization of capital projects. This report uses the latest needs assessment to measure the progress in completing projects and making capital commitments, as of September 2021.

The Office of the State Comptroller received 16,356 contract transactions, including both new contracts and contract amendments, valued at $235 billion in the calendar year 2020. The average time from agency contract submission to final sign-off was 5.8 days.

Businesses in New York were more severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 than in the rest of the nation, and the negative impacts on small businesses with less than 500 employees persist. In addition, small businesses report facing new challenges with hiring difficulties and with supply chains. Nevertheless, one in five small businesses reported a return to normal operations in October 2021, there have been significant improvements in several sectors, and applications for new businesses are surging, which bodes well for the economic recovery.

Local sales tax collections in New York grew by 12.9% in October compared to a year ago, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced. Collections for all localities totaled more than $1.5 billion, up $175 million from October 2020.

Regional Table [.xlsx]

In early 2021, New York City established a rainy-day fund, to better prepare for financial downturns. This report lays how the City can ensure resources are available when needed, by establishing a clear and written purpose for the funds, creating targets for how much should go into the fund each year and setting the conditions for withdrawals. The report also found the City’s reserve policies are not as robust as other large U.S. cities, and with recent changes in State and local law enabling the use of these funds, recommends the City define how these resources are accumulated and used.

The Office of the State Comptroller prepares this report to enhance public discussion of the State's economy and budget. OSC estimates the State’s tax revenues will grow 22 percent in SFY 2021-22, 4.7 percent SFY 2022-23, and 3.2 percent in SFY 2023-24.

Local sales tax collections totaled $5.2 billion in the third quarter (July-September of 2021), up $861 million (20%) from the same period last year and continuing the trend of exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Regional Table [.xlsx]

Wall Street’s run of prosperity extended into the first half of 2021 with $31 billion in pre-tax earnings, beating 2020’s outsized first half profits of $27.6 billion. Despite continued strong profitability, employment in the industry in New York City has sagged, even as it has ticked upward in the rest of the nation. Average salary, including bonuses, reached $438,000, the highest of any industry and nearly five times higher than the average in the rest of the private sector.

Comptroller DiNapoli has launched his new online tool to monitor spending of federal recovery aid and COVID-19 relief programs in the State. The dashboard explains each federal and State program, and how much has been received and spent to date. The data will be updated monthly and New Yorkers can use the tool to understand how federal aid is used and to inform future conversations about budget priorities.

The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out years of growth in New York City’s office sector. Stay-at-home orders forced many office workers to shift to remote work, as businesses reliant on in-person interactions with customers were forced to reduce capacity or remain closed for extended periods. As a result, in City Fiscal Year 2022, the full market value of office buildings fell $28.6 billion, the first decline in more than 20 years, and property taxes declined more than $850 million. Timing its recovery is an open question, however, as employers continue to offer work-from-home options.

The case studies described in this report provide insight into some of the fiscal challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic presented to individual local governments in 2020. OSC staff conducted interviews and financial analysis in late fall 2020, choosing the Mid-Hudson region as the geographical focus. The City of Peekskill, the Town of Cornwall and the Village of New Paltz agreed to participate in the study. Each had its own unique experience in 2020, but each also shows some of the typical problems facing local governments throughout the region and the State.

State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2020-21 will long be remembered for the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and for the resilience demonstrated by New Yorkers in responding to the multitude of challenges.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the New York State and Local Retirement System (the System or NYSLRS) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MTA has been in a state of existential crisis. The Comptroller’s annual report on the MTA’s finances details how the combination of higher spending, the winding down of federal aid, the risk of lower ridership levels, increased impact from extreme weather, potential service reductions and other factors put the MTA in danger starting in 2025.

The crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic came at a time when NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) had been working toward stabilizing its financial situation. Since 2015, it has been introducing initiatives to increase revenue collections through improving billing procedures, negotiating higher insurance rates, attracting and keeping patients, and lowering personnel costs. This report reviews H+H’s position before the pandemic, assesses the financial and operational impacts of its COVID-19 response, and weighs the long-term effects of the pandemic on the system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of education across the country and in New York City, the nation’s largest public school system. During the pandemic, the City had to develop and implement novel remote learning protocols to continue educating students. Extraordinary levels of federal aid allowed the City to overcome these obstacles and implement a number of new initiatives to help students and address learning losses.

The State has made progress in making high-speed connections available to New Yorkers; nevertheless, there are still significant challenges. Many predominantly rural areas remain underserved. And one in three low-income households does not have access to broadband, which magnifies disparities in access to opportunities. High-speed connections are an imperative not only for economic development, but also for equality of opportunity.

New York students with disabilities lost partial or full special education services because of school shutdowns and the shift to remote learning during the pandemic, likely exacerbating pre-existing achievement gaps. School districts should prioritize address learning loss for these students in their re-opening plans.

The historic surge in unemployment claims at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly depleted the New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund, resulting in the State borrowing from the federal government to pay claims. State UI tax rates have already risen to the highest level permissible under law in 2021. Unless the State or federal government takes significant action, federal UI tax rates on employers will also increase in 2022 and beyond.