New York’s general fund balance has been in the red almost every day this month, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said last week.
Despite ending August with a positive balance of $527.9 million, the general fund has had a negative cash balance every day since Sept. 3, according to a report released by the comptroller’s office.
August’s positive variance appeared to be due to certain payments having been delayed. Over $3 billion of delayed education aid payments are due this month.
“While we continue to see positive signs, there is still a tremendous amount of risk associated with the economy and the financial plan,” DiNapoli said in a press release. “If the few positive signs start to slow, we will face problems sooner than anticipated and could face a budget gap this year. The state’s budget is by no means out of the woods.”
On the bright side, year-to-date personal income tax collections for the general fund came in at $9.3 billion, a $484.6 million increase over last year.
New York added private-sector jobs in August but unemployment ticked up nonetheless, the state Labor Department reported last week. Unemployment rose by 0.1% to 8.3% compared to the previous month. The increase occurred outside of New York City, where unemployment remained constant at 9.4%.
“The recovery in New York State’s labor market slowed somewhat in August, as we only added 2,500 private-sector jobs over the month,” said Norman Steele, the department’s deputy director of research and statistics.
The number of unemployed New Yorkers rose to 801,400 in August, a month-to-month increase of 5,400. Even with the increases, unemployment is lower than it was in August 2009, when New York City’s 10.1% unemployment exceeded the 9.7% national rate.
