Reports

Agriculture is an important sector in Long Island, and provides many benefits to the regional economy and local residents. In fact, Suffolk County has the highest agricultural sales of any county in New York State, and is home to about one-fifth of the State’s wineries.

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, 2012.

In the past few years, New York State has made important progress toward achieving long-term budget balance. The State has enacted significant changes in its three largest expenditure categories — Medicaid, school aid and agency operations — and created a new cap on local property taxes, ushering in a new era of State and local fiscal policy.

This report seeks to inform that debate by examining the economic and fiscal histories of these other cities between 1980 and 2010, a period characterized by divergent trends for different groups of cities in the Empire State.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.

This report describes the fiscal oversight OSC provides to local governments faced with the serious fiscal challenges of budgeting with fewer resources to fund rising expenditures, all while staying within the recently enacted property tax cap.

Since the 1970s, farmers’ markets have multiplied and become more popular in New York City and throughout New York State as the locally grown food movement has gained momentum.

In late May 2012, the New York State Thruway Authority announced that it was beginning the process of imposing a 45 percent average toll increase for larger commercial vehicles. This increase, intended to take effect on September 30, 2012, comes after the Thruway Authority has increased tolls for all classes of vehicles in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

New York State is a leading agricultural state with 36,300 farms that produced $4.7 billion in products in 2010. New York ranks among the largest producers in the nation for some products, including ranking second in wine production.

The greater downtown Brooklyn area is home to world-class arts and cultural organizations, such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

The greater downtown Brooklyn area is the civic center of Brooklyn and includes the largest business district in New York City outside of Manhattan.

One year ago, New York City projected a budget gap of $4.6 billion for FY 2013 and out-year gaps that reached $4.9 billion. Since then, the City has successfully closed the FY 2013 budget gap and narrowed the FY 2014 budget gap to $2.5 billion without raising taxes or cutting basic services. Most of the improvement, however, has not come from higher revenue forecasts, but from drawing down reserves and other nonrecurring resources.

On July 1, 2012, the interest rate on subsidized Direct Federal Loans for college students (also known as Stafford Loans) is set to revert to 6.8 percent for new loans, unless the U.S. Congress acts to prevent the increase.

School districts can use EBALR moneys to make cash payments to employees for accrued leave time due to them when they leave school district employment. OSC certified the excess EBALR funds that school districts had reserved, but could not legally use, so district officials could put these moneys to productive use to pay for operating costs. 

Nearly one year ago, New York City adopted a balanced budget for FY 2012, but projected a budget gap of $4.6 billion for FY 2013, and even larger gaps for subsequent years. On May 3, 2012, the Mayor issued his executive budget for FY 2013 and an associated four-year financial plan (the “May Plan”). The City now projects a modest surplus for FY 2012, a balanced budget for FY 2013, and out-year budget gaps that average $3.3 billion.

New York is embarked on a new era of State and local fiscal policy. The State is working to resolve longstanding budgetary problems through ambitious policy changes, the full impacts of which will become clear only over time.

In 2011-12, vendors were paid interest totaling $1,925,986, representing an increase of $526,531, or more than 37 percent, above the prior year. 

New York added more jobs in the past two years than previously reported, according to revised data from the New York State Department of Labor.

In 2010, the 114 active IDAs located throughout the State supported 4,444 projects and provided total tax exemptions of nearly $1.3 billion. 

Cost containment actions in the State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2011-12 Enacted Budget, including spending caps for State-funded Medicaid and school aid, have greatly reduced the structural deficit that has long plagued the State.