New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is criticizing the state's recently adopted budget.
The governor and legislature deserve credit for meeting the April 1 deadline. However, the budget "contains temporary resources and revenue assumptions that may fall short," DiNapoli said. "Instead of reigning in the state's reliance of backdoor borrowing, it expands the use of public authority debt."
The $135 billion budget has more than $4 billion in temporary and non-recurring resources, excluding $5.1 billion in federal assistance related to storm Sandy. The budget also authorizes the transfer of $1.75 billion from assessment reserves held by State Insurance Fund to the General Fund through fiscal 2017.
DiNapoli complained that the budget assumes that several sources of revenue will appear that may not. The budget projects that tax receipts will be $200 million higher than the current fiscal year's receipts are expected to be. Tax expectations may fall short of this, as they have for each of the last five years.
The budget makes no provision to deal with the impact of the federal budget sequestration. Finally, the budget assumes that the federal government will contribute $600 million in additional Medicaid funding. However, negotiations with the government concerning $250 million of the aid have not been resolved.
