New York State gives an estimated $4.4 billion a year to corporations to create jobs. Local governments give approximately $5.6 billion more, according to the Citizens Budget Commission. We do not know how much assistance each business gets, nor do we know how many jobs are created or retained. But we do know – as hundreds of studies have shown – that subsidizing corporations is fundamentally a waste of money that could be spent on core government services like transit or schools.

The opportunity zones will remain in effect until at least 2026. The time frame is deemed too long by critics of the program.

“This is problematic for two reasons,” according to Sean Campion, who wrote a report on opportunity zones in 2019 that was released by the Citizen’s Budget Commission. “First eligibility was based on data from the 2011-2015 American Community Survey, which was already outdated at the time of selection. Second the opportunity zone boundaries will not adjust to account for neighborhood change and development over time.”

While Manhattan’s 4.1% delinquency rate was lower than that of the outer boroughs, the total amount owed from properties in that borough was higher than the rest of the city, because Manhattan accounts for about 63% of all property taxes due. Manhattan properties owe about $771 million in unpaid taxes, while other four boroughs combined owe about $570 million.

Ana Champeny, Director of City Studies at the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission, called the increased delinquency rate “concerning” but said it did not pose an immediate risk to the city’s fiscal health, because the de Blasio administration had factored it into its FY21 budget calculations.

“Fortunately, because the City budget accounted for a higher rate of delinquency than usual in this year and next,” Champeny said, “the level of non-payment projected by the Comptroller should not create a major revenue shortfall.”

This year’s Albany plan would cut back $800 million of state education funds, substituting federal funds from December’s stimulus bill along with another $220 million of other costs. The state’s long-term budget outlook, said Stringer, could leave the city with even larger shortfalls in the future.

“The future is fraught with risks from the economy and the fiscally stressed state budget that may increase budget gaps tremendously,” said Andrew Rein, president of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission.

The Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group, raised some concern about the legislation though it has long supported overhauling the city’s capital planning process. In testimony submitted to the Council, CBC Senior Research Associate Sean Campion said tying capital plan reforms to land use reforms is not necessary, that changing the structure and timing of regularly issued capital budget reports would make them less useful, and that capital budgeting power should remain in the hands of the mayor. “[A] strategic plan is only as good as its implementation design,” his testimony reads. “Extreme care should be taken when adding new processes, requirements and organizations since they could slow or thwart progress towards those outcomes or unnecessarily increase costs.”

During an online virtual forum, eight leading mayoral Democratic candidates laid out their proposals for dealing with the fiscal issues for the country's largest city. The term for current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, runs out at the end of this year because he's barred from running for more than two consecutive terms.

Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew S. Rein, who moderated the forum, told candidates that New York City's preliminary budget is currently projected to be $1 billion short and it's also facing recurring budget gaps of more than $5 billion in the next three years. In addition, the New York state and city comptrollers both have said recently those budget gaps could grow larger.

The memo cites a report from the Citizens Budget Commission which projects the program could cost New York City and state as much as $31 million and $63 million a year, respectively. (The amounts represent about $1 for every $3,000 in the city and state budgets.)

Other labor organizations that supported the memo include health care workers union 1199SEIU, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, food workers union UFCW Local 1500, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

New York City’s transit system has avoided “doomsday” — for now.

For months, bus and subway services faced the prospect of draconian cuts as the pandemic plunged the system into a financial crisis. But on Thursday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a bit of good news: Major reductions would be avoided through 2022.

Still, without more federal aid the agency faces an $8 billion deficit over the next four years and the possibility of future cuts in service.

“The bottom line is we are not out of the woods,” said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a financial watchdog. “But we can see the light through the trees.”

For months, bus and subway services faced the prospect of draconian cuts as the pandemic plunged the system into a financial crisis. But on Thursday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a bit of good news: Major reductions would be avoided through 2022.

Still, without more federal aid the agency faces an $8 billion deficit over the next four years and the possibility of future cuts in service.

“The bottom line is we are not out of the woods,” said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a financial watchdog. “But we can see the light through the trees.”

But the state could reduce their allocation to the city whether or not federal aid flows through the state, according to Ana Champeny, Director of City Studies at Citizens Budget Commission, the fiscal watchdog.

"Even if the education aid had come straight to the city [the state] could have done the same thing," Champeny said in an interview. "The direct doesn't necessarily mean that you're not going to have a reduction in state aid."

Aid to New York City in Cuomo's Executive Budget for fiscal year 2022, which begins April 1 of this year, is expected to top $19.7 billion -- a nearly $1.7 billion increase over the previous year, according to the budget briefing book from the state Division of the Budget. Most of that increase -- over $1.4 billion -- is from a bump in education aid.

The portion being contributed to New York in that budget plan from state dollars is virtually flat -- an increase of $53 million, according to Champeny. The remaining increase comes from a jump in federal school aid from $721 million in the current fiscal year to $2.15 billion projected in the next, which totals just over $1.4 billion, Champeny says.

While the agency said it would avoid major cuts in 2021 and 2022, it still faces an $8 billion deficit over the next four years and the possibility of cuts in the near future without additional federal aid.

“In the short and midterm there is significant relief, but we still have a long-term structural, fiscal problem that we have not dealt with” said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a financial watchdog. “The bottom line is we are not out of the woods, but we can see the light through the trees.”

Still hanging in the balance is the agency’s sweeping $54 billion plan to modernize the system, including replacing an antiquated signal system that is a major cause of delays and disruptions. That plan was suspended after the pandemic hit but parts of it will be revived this year, according to transit officials.

Making the system more reliable is a crucial step to luring back riders as New York struggles to recover from the financial crisis set off by the outbreak.

“The reality is they won’t have the money to do everything, so they need to prioritize state of good repair and critical replacements first,” Mr. Rein said.

The nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission has recommended that New York lawmakers not revive the transaction tax and instead use other ways to close the state’s budget gap, including reducing local aid and trimming spending on some development projects.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has signaled it may not support the bill.