The Citizens Budget Commission has offered its take on New York City’s budget for fiscal year 2012, which started last Friday.
According to Maria Doulis, the budget was
a missed opportunity … to address the City’s fiscal problems in a lasting way – one that would … greatly reduce the need to propose other cuts in the future.
New York City’s finances suffer from a structural problem: spending growth is consistently projected to outpace revenue growth, resulting in repeated budget gaps.
While the 2012 budget is now balanced, the financial plan shows a gap of $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2013.
Driving the City’s spending growth are three items: health insurance, pension contributions and debt service. Spending on these items totaled $11 billion in 2005 and is expected to reach $23.1 billion in 2015.
While these expenses will double, the rest of the budget is projected to grow only 25 percent during this period. As a result, spending on the “big three” as a share of the budget will grow from 22 percent to 33 percent of total revenues between 2005 and 2015.
As these items claim a larger slice of the pie, less is available for other priorities. And that means service cuts will continue unless the City changes course.
The CBC offers solutions here. Cost-sharing with workers and retirees on healthcare costs, for example, could save $2 billion by 2015.
You may also like
New York’s Proposed ‘MCO Tax’ Would Generate a Fraction of What Lawmakers Expected
The Hochul administration's proposed "MCO tax" would generate far less than the $4 billion in extra federal aid anticipated by state lawmakers when they approved the concept this spring, according to documents obtained by t Read More
How 1199 Earns its Reputation as Albany’s No. 1 Labor Power Broker
For the fourth time in six years, the president of New York's largest health-care union, George Gresham of 1199SEIU, has won the top spot on the "Labor Power 100" list from City &am Read More
New York Runs Away from the Pack on Medicaid Spending
New York's per capita Medicaid spending jumped 14 percent in 2023, moving it further ahead of the rest of the country, recently released nationwide data show.
In the federal fiscal year that ended last September, New York spent $94.6 billion Read More
Hochul’s ‘Straight Talk’ on Medicaid Isn’t Straight Enough
Arguably the biggest Medicaid news in Governor Hochul's budget presentation was about the current fiscal year, not the next one: The state-run health plan is running substantially over budget.
Read More
New York’s Medicaid Spending Is Running Billions Over Budget
New York's Medicaid program ran billions of dollars over budget during the first half of the fiscal year, adding to signs of a brewing fiscal crisis in Albany.
According to the fro Read More
Hospital Lobby’s TV Campaign Spreads Misinformation About Medicaid
As New York's health-care industry agitates for more money from the state budget, two of its most influential lobbying groups are airing TV ads that make alarmist and inaccurate claims about Medicaid. Read More
Hochul’s ‘Pay and Resolve’ Push for Hospitals Triggers Déjà Vu
Two years ago last week, I wrote in the Daily News about how then-Governor Andrew Cuomo was pushing a costly change to insurance law on behalf of a hospital group that had supported his campaign through a fund-rai Read More
The Looming Collapse of a Long-Term Care Insurer Raises Questions for DFS
As the Hochul administration presses for the creation of a "guaranty fund" to bail out failed health insurers, the state is quietly moving to seize a small company that could be the fund's first target. Read More