The chief fiscal officer of New York says the state’s projected budget deficit has tripled since January due to lost revenues and the costs of managing the pandemic.
New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says without federal assistance, hospitals, schools and local governments could face $8 billion in budget cuts from the state. He says they don’t anticipate borrowing or the use of rainy day funds to soften the blow.
Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to delay paying nearly $700 million in state Medicaid payments to future fiscal years. That has the potential to hurt hospitals that rely on those reimbursements.
DiNapoli says he expects health care costs from the pandemic to continue to rise.
He says what could help New York save essential services would be for the U.S. Treasury to be more flexible with how the state is allowed to use the $5 billion already allocated for coronavirus relief.
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