Reports

New York State's Farmland Protection Program was created in 1992 to preserve high quality working farmland and to reduce pressures on farm families to sell their lands and leave the farming industry. Counties and towns receive financial support from the program to develop farmland protection plans and to purchase development rights on farmland.

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, 2010.

Unlike the State and local governments, New York State’s public authorities are permitted to structure bond issues with the payment of principal heavily weighted to the end of the repayment schedule.

New York continues to struggle with the fiscal challenges associated with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has long suffered from a structural imbalance between recurring revenues and expenses.

By any measure, New York’s economy depends heavily on small businesses. Using the definition established by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA)—any firm with fewer than 500 employees—small businesses account for more than half of all private sector jobs and the vast majority of the private sector firms in New York.

As with other states, New York State has struggled with the lasting effects of the nation’s longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In New York State, higher education is a major industry. The State’s 269 degree-granting colleges and universities employed 266,110 people and paid out $13.2 billion in wages in 2009.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010.

New Yorkers plan to spend up to $192 million for back-to-school supplies this year, with approximately 64 percent of this spending ($123 million) driven by school supply lists from their children’s schools.

The Office of the State Comptroller administers the Justice Court Fund (JCF), a sole custody fund established in 1944 into which the revenues generated by the State’s 1,246 town and village justice courts are deposited.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is responsible for operating the largest mass transit system in the nation, with an average weekday ridership in 2009 totaling nearly 5.1 million.

The recession has been less severe in New York City than in the nation and in other parts of New York State, and less severe than first feared, but the impact has been painful nonetheless. New York City lost 185,500 jobs; the unemployment rate peaked at 10.5 percent in November 2009, the highest rate in 17 years; and tax revenues fell by 7.1 percent in FY 2009 ($2.8 billion), the steepest decline in at least 30 years.

Local sales tax collections, including New York City, increased by 10.6 percent during the first half of 2010 compared to the same period the year before. About half of this growth is due to sales tax rate increases and the extension of the sales tax to additional items.

The 2010-11 State Fiscal Year (SFY) began more than 100 days ago, but the State budget is still incomplete. Since March, the Executive has proposed and the Legislature has enacted 12 temporary spending bills to allow governmental functions to continue during the budget delay.

In 2009, the Division of State and Local Government Accountability in the Office of the State Comptroller audited State agency and municipal government implementation of programs funded by the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF or Fund), a dedicated fund that provides support for State and municipal parks, municipal recycling programs and control of water pollution, as well as the majority of State support for conservation of open space and other important environmental programs.

Mirroring a nationwide trend, New York State has been losing manufacturing jobs over the past several decades. However, the remaining manufacturing base contains some bright spots that demonstrate the potential for an economic resurgence in New York.

The meltdown of the national housing market continues to threaten homeowners with foreclosures and reduced home values. Fortunately, New York had fewer subprime mortgages and has fared better than many other states.1 Nonetheless, the decline in home sales and home values is being felt, particularly downstate.

The worst recession since the Great Depression appears to be coming to an end, but it has cost the nation 8.4 million jobs. While the downturn has been less severe in New York State and New York City than in the nation, the impact has been painful nonetheless. New York City lost 186,900 jobs and tax revenues fell by 7.1 percent in FY 2009 ($2.8 billion)—the steepest decline in at least 30 years.

The proposed State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2010-11 Executive Budget released in January projected a five-year cumulative current services deficit exceeding $60 billion.