Hochul, Democrats’ spending has NY facing fiscal cliff, watchdogs warnBy Zach Williams and Carl Campanile
August 2, 2022
Runaway spending on Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Democrats’ record, election year, $220 billion budget has left New York facing deficits for the next five years, watchdogs warned Tuesday, saying continued loose spending by Albany’s leaders could make things worse for a generation.
“It seems clear at least that the Governor and the Legislature should have showed more fiscal restraint,” reads an analysis by Peter Warren, director of research at Empire Center for Public Policy.
Plummeting tax revenues mean a $310 million state budget deficit next year, which would grow to roughly $3.5 billion for the following two years before ballooning to $6.2 billion in the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2026, according to a state budget update released Monday night.
The state budget grew by $47 billion between 2020 and 2022, with expensive items like record-high public school funding, a controversial tax credit for film and TV productions, pension increases for state workers, and an expansion of health care for some undocumented people.
Budget watchdogs say state policymakers ought to restrain spending moving forward while reconsidering funding commitments made under previously rose fiscal projections that saw budget surpluses for years, in part thanks to federal COVID-19 funding.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2022/08/02/hochul-democrats-spending-has-ny-facing-fiscal-cliff-watchdogs/
