Reports

In the wake of the events of September 11, 2001, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) initiated intense planning efforts to determine how to best protect its customers and key assets from any future terrorist incident.

New York City lost 110,000 jobs (2.9 percent) between October 2008 and October 2009, which has caused a sharp drop in utilization of the MTA’s transit facilities (e.g., subways, buses, and bridges and tunnels).

New York City has always been a gateway to opportunity for people from around the world. Successive waves of immigration created a melting pot of cultures that left its mark on the City’s history and its neighborhoods.

Spanish | Russian | Chinese | Korean | Haitian-Creole

The recent closure of the Lake Champlain Bridge in Essex County (also known as the Crown Point Bridge) highlights the importance of New York's bridges to the regional economies in which they are located. Currently, there are 93 bridges in use in New York State with a safety rating at or below that given to the Lake Champlain Bridge prior to its closure.

Bridges in use with a safety rating at or below 3.375 - pdf

School districts across New York state, including New York City, face a potential funding gap of at least $2 billion when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding runs out in 2011-12 unless federal aid is renewed or replaced by State aid.

View a district-by-district breakdown of ARRA funding - .xls

The nation is emerging from the worst recession since World War II. While New York City was hit hard, the impact has not been as severe as initially feared or as painful as elsewhere in the nation. The City has lost 125,000 jobs, and the November Plan assumes that job losses will peak at 220,000 during the third quarter of 2010—fewer losses than in either of the past two recessions.

New York State has already been forced to take extraordinary measures to meet its existing obligations in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2009-10. The decline in revenue associated with the most severe recession since the Great Depression and the State’s continuing failure to address its worsening structural budget imbalance have combined to create a severe cash flow crunch.

The global financial crisis was rooted in excessive risk-taking, which exposed the financial industry to historic losses when underlying assumptions proved faulty.

Long Island City and Astoria are the westernmost parts of Queens, only minutes from Midtown Manhattan. The area benefits from a strong transportation network, which has made it attractive to business and residential development.

Overall, county sales tax collections (excluding New York City) continued to fall during the third quarter of 2009 (July-September), declining by 7.9 percent, although collections at New York’s automobile dealerships actually increased compared to the same quarter in 2008, suggesting that the Car Allowance Rebate System (also called “Cash for Clunkers”) moderated the decline.

County Sales Tax Distributions - pdf

This Report on Estimated Receipts and Disbursements for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2009-10 through SFY 2011-12, issued pursuant to Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2007, is intended to facilitate continuing discussion of the State’s economic condition and the State Budget.

New York State and its local governments are responsible for the care and maintenance of more than 113,000 miles of highways and more than 17,400 bridges.

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, 2009.

The State of New York continues to face serious challenges to its fiscal health. The State has continued on the unsustainable course of making recurring spending commitments that are not backed by recurring revenues, and it continues to rely heavily on debt.

The State University of New York (SUNY) system represents an excellent value to its many students, regardless of resident status. The State-operated system enrolls well over 400,000 students at its 64 campuses, of which 13 are university centers, 21 are colleges and 30 are community colleges. Tuition dollars combined with State and county revenues support the $10.7 billion SUNY budget.

The MTA’s commuter railroads, bridges, and tunnels have been largely restored to a state of good repair, with some exceptions. The subway system has made substantial progress, but there is a large backlog of needed investments.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009.

Local sales tax collections for all of New York State, including New York City, declined by 8.9 percent, or $640 million, over the first seven months of 2009 compared to the same period the year before.

This report analyzes historical trends in local capital spending and the current condition of our local infrastructure. It suggests some important steps that the State and local governments need to take to improve capital planning within New York. Finally, it suggests some policy options that could help sustain investment in the State’s infrastructure and encourage more coordinated, regional approaches to investment.

Two years ago, New York City’s economy was booming and the City’s coffers were overflowing with record budget surpluses. Today, the recession is rippling through the local economy and taking a heavy toll on tax collections. Tax collections, excluding recent tax increases, were down last year by $3.3 billion and are projected to decline by another $2.4 billion in FY 2010—a cumulative two-year drop of $5.7 billion.