Reports

The United States is slowly recovering from the worst recession in decades, which was precipitated by high-risk lending practices.

New York State's Farmland Protection Program was created in 1992 to preserve high quality working farmland and to reduce pressures on farm families to sell their lands and leave the farming industry. Counties and towns receive financial support from the program to develop farmland protection plans and to purchase development rights on farmland.

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, 2010.

New York continues to struggle with the fiscal challenges associated with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has long suffered from a structural imbalance between recurring revenues and expenses.

As with other states, New York State has struggled with the lasting effects of the nation’s longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

The Office of the State Comptroller administers the Justice Court Fund (JCF), a sole custody fund established in 1944 into which the revenues generated by the State’s 1,246 town and village justice courts are deposited.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is responsible for operating the largest mass transit system in the nation, with an average weekday ridership in 2009 totaling nearly 5.1 million.

The recession has been less severe in New York City than in the nation and in other parts of New York State, and less severe than first feared, but the impact has been painful nonetheless. New York City lost 185,500 jobs; the unemployment rate peaked at 10.5 percent in November 2009, the highest rate in 17 years; and tax revenues fell by 7.1 percent in FY 2009 ($2.8 billion), the steepest decline in at least 30 years.

The 2010-11 State Fiscal Year (SFY) began more than 100 days ago, but the State budget is still incomplete. Since March, the Executive has proposed and the Legislature has enacted 12 temporary spending bills to allow governmental functions to continue during the budget delay.

In 2009, the Division of State and Local Government Accountability in the Office of the State Comptroller audited State agency and municipal government implementation of programs funded by the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF or Fund), a dedicated fund that provides support for State and municipal parks, municipal recycling programs and control of water pollution, as well as the majority of State support for conservation of open space and other important environmental programs.

The worst recession since the Great Depression appears to be coming to an end, but it has cost the nation 8.4 million jobs. While the downturn has been less severe in New York State and New York City than in the nation, the impact has been painful nonetheless. New York City lost 186,900 jobs and tax revenues fell by 7.1 percent in FY 2009 ($2.8 billion)—the steepest decline in at least 30 years.

The proposed State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2010-11 Executive Budget released in January projected a five-year cumulative current services deficit exceeding $60 billion.

In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2009-10, All Funds spending for New York State amounted to $126.9 billion. Of this amount, approximately $38.4 billion or 30.2 percent was spent on Medicaid.

With the 2010-11 State Budget now six weeks late, local governments and school districts are struggling to budget and plan for the upcoming year. Under these circumstances, there is the distinct possibility that aid payments will be delayed and some localities may have to resort to short-term borrowing until they get paid by the State.

Over the last several years, OSC has increased its oversight of IDA operations through audits and performance reports. The Comptroller also began suspending State tax exemption powers for IDAs that failed to file financial reports. Additionally, the Public Authorities Reform Act that became effective in March 2010, will further enhance IDA transparency by requiring additional reporting on governance, operating structure and financial condition.

IDA Projects in 2008 - .xls

While the State ended State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2009-10 with a positive General Fund balance and all restricted reserves intact, this was accomplished because the Executive delayed $1.1 billion more in payments than had been anticipated in February.

The General Fund is the main operating fund of the State and is traditionally used to measure the State’s projected budget deficit.

The nation is slowly emerging from the worst recession since the Great Depression, but the recovery is expected to be slow and uneven. Although the national economy grew at 5.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009, the strong growth could not offset the deep contractions that occurred in the first half of the year. As a result, the economy contracted by 2.4 percent in 2009, the largest annual decline in 63 years.