State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2020-21 will long be remembered for the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and for the resilience demonstrated by New Yorkers in responding to the multitude of challenges.

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the State of New York for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.

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, 2021.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MTA has been in a state of existential crisis. The Comptroller’s annual report on the MTA’s finances details how the combination of higher spending, the winding down of federal aid, the risk of lower ridership levels, increased impact from extreme weather, potential service reductions and other factors put the MTA in danger starting in 2025.

The crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic came at a time when NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) had been working toward stabilizing its financial situation. Since 2015, it has been introducing initiatives to increase revenue collections through improving billing procedures, negotiating higher insurance rates, attracting and keeping patients, and lowering personnel costs. This report reviews H+H’s position before the pandemic, assesses the financial and operational impacts of its COVID-19 response, and weighs the long-term effects of the pandemic on the system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of education across the country and in New York City, the nation’s largest public school system. During the pandemic, the City had to develop and implement novel remote learning protocols to continue educating students. Extraordinary levels of federal aid allowed the City to overcome these obstacles and implement a number of new initiatives to help students and address learning losses.

The historic surge in unemployment claims at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly depleted the New York State Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund, resulting in the State borrowing from the federal government to pay claims. State UI tax rates have already risen to the highest level permissible under law in 2021. Unless the State or federal government takes significant action, federal UI tax rates on employers will also increase in 2022 and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for the State’s regional transportation authorities by disrupting operations, decreasing ridership, and severely reducing revenues; however, these authorities reported that federal aid helped them weather pandemic deficits. If ridership continues to languish and does not return to pre-pandemic levels, the authorities will need additional revenue from other sources to continue to provide services at current levels—or may be faced with limiting services.

On June 30, 2021, New York City adopted its $98.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2022. Excluding federal aid, the City will fund about $2 billion more in spending than was planned in its proposed executive budget in April, after adjusting for surplus transfers and money set aside for reserves. 

Personal income in New York State has surpassed pre-pandemic levels; while this is a positive development, there are two causes for concern. First, growth is primarily due to transfer receipts paid to New Yorkers from the government, which account for more than 20 percent of personal income. Second, earnings in seven industrial sectors, including the leisure and hospitality sector that was hardest hit during the pandemic, have not yet returned to pre-2020 levels.