New York State is likely to close this year with a balanced budget, and even with billions in additional receipts, but multi-billion-dollar gaps loom in out-years. The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) has identified 11 fiscal priorities for the State in the forthcoming budget for fiscal year 2024. CBC recommends that the State: 

1. Keep fiscal year 2024 spending growth to 2 percent and start closing the $12 billion structural gap.  
2. Add at least $2 billion more than already planned to the Rainy Day reserves.  
3. Do not create new fiscal cliffs with recently identified receipts.  
4. Omit extraordinary Executive powers.  
5. Omit lump sum appropriations.  
6. Publish financial plan tables with the one-house and enacted budgets.  
7. Put Medicaid on a fiscally sustainable path.  
8. Do not increase State school aid for districts already self-funding a sound basic education.  
9. Identify and prioritize the most cost-effective and least disruptive strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase resiliency.  
10. Ensure that efficiency and productivity improvements are a significant part of any plan to address the MTA’s structural operating deficit.  
11. Pilot a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee to secure reliable funding for the State’s transportation infrastructure.  

Read CBC’s full fiscal priorities list here.