New York’s $163 billion budget, enacted on April 9, authorizes the state to spend at a rate of $5,169 per second during its 2017-18 fiscal year, according to the Empire Center’s updated Spend-O-Meter.

Web users can see each dollar being spent in realtime on the Center’s Spend-O-Meter webpage: EmpireCenter.org/Spend-O-Meter.

“State spending has climbed to its highest level ever,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center. “The Spend-O-Meter helps put that amount into a context people can more easily understand.”

New York’s all-funds budget, which includes revenues from both state and federal sources, has doubled since fiscal year 1987, when the state spent $80.6 billion (2017 dollars).

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank dedicated to promoting policies to make New York a better place to live, work and do business.

Spend-O-Meter

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