Reports

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 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.

This snapshot highlights the results for counties, cities, towns and villages that reported for local fiscal years ending (FYE) 2020. These scores, therefore, reflect the partial-year impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations for most local governments.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for the State’s regional transportation authorities by disrupting operations, decreasing ridership, and severely reducing revenues; however, these authorities reported that federal aid helped them weather pandemic deficits. If ridership continues to languish and does not return to pre-pandemic levels, the authorities will need additional revenue from other sources to continue to provide services at current levels—or may be faced with limiting services.

On June 30, 2021, New York City adopted its $98.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2022. Excluding federal aid, the City will fund about $2 billion more in spending than was planned in its proposed executive budget in April, after adjusting for surplus transfers and money set aside for reserves. 

Personal income in New York State has surpassed pre-pandemic levels; while this is a positive development, there are two causes for concern. First, growth is primarily due to transfer receipts paid to New Yorkers from the government, which account for more than 20 percent of personal income. Second, earnings in seven industrial sectors, including the leisure and hospitality sector that was hardest hit during the pandemic, have not yet returned to pre-2020 levels.

The State Fiscal Year 2021-22 Enacted Budget Financial Plan reflects a remarkable improvement in the State’s financial condition, as New York and the nation have begun to recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, there are significant risks to the plan that can be managed if policymakers commit to further strengthening the State’s rainy day reserve funds; exercise discipline by using temporary federal resources for non-recurring obligations over the multi-year plan period; consider the long-term sustainability of major spending programs; closely monitor personal income tax collections and taxpayer behavior; and restore effective State debt management practices, including establishment of new and meaningful debt limitations and, if practicable, greater use of “pay-as-you-go” capital.

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a change in how people sought and received medical care; rather than visiting medical practitioners in person, increasing numbers of people used telehealth services. While telehealth usage in New York and nationally has declined since the pandemic peak, it remains well above pre-pandemic levels, though still only a small share of overall utilization.

DiNapoli's office issues a state cash report every month identifying actual state revenues and spending from the prior month. The cash report focuses primarily on the General Fund and All Governmental Funds. The General Fund is the major operating fund of the state. All Governmental Funds includes General, Special Revenue, Debt Service and Capital Projects funds, as well as funds from the federal government.

Previous Monthly Cash Basis Reports

One year after COVID-19 caused the sharpest economic contraction on record and exposed New York City’s finances to substantial risks, the City’s economy and finances are on the mend, thanks largely to unprecedented federal economic stimulus for businesses and individuals, and direct federal relief to New York State, New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic shutdown quickly led to soaring unemployment rates in New York; those rates subsequently declined slowly but steadily. However, for New Yorkers who face unique challenges due to a disability, unemployment rates increased more quickly and have remained stubbornly high, disrupting progress that had been made leading up to the pandemic.

This report summarizes data for fiscal year 2019, the most recent data reported by IDAs through the Public Authorities Reporting Information System (PARIS). The report also contains a brief discussion of local development corporations (LDCs), a related type of local authority. | Interactive Map

This report details economic impact payments, also known as "stimulus checks," provided to New Yorkers under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the COVID-Related Tax Relief (CRTR) Act. The report also summarizes the Comptroller’s analysis of the Enacted Budget.

This report examines the use of overtime by New York State agencies over the past ten calendar years. The total cost of overtime in calendar year 2020 reached an all-time high at more than $850 million, covering roughly 19.1 million overtime hours worked.

The following Report on Local Governments provides a summary analysis of the financial state of the local governments outside of New York City for local fiscal years ending in 2019. | NYS Local Government Interactive Data

The New York State All Funds Budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2021-22 totals an estimated $212 billion — the largest budget in State history, almost 10 percent greater than the prior year. While the Budget relies on an influx of resources to make significant investments in Education, Medicaid, and for aid for New Yorkers and businesses, it also missed opportunities to correct course on some lingering fiscal deficiencies.