N.Y. details budget woes and a projected loss of $62B over the next four years
ALBANY — New York could be in for a $64 billion dollar loss over the next four years as a direct consequence of the coronavirus crisis, the state budget office announced Thursday.
The dire projection is part of a quarterly budget update that also notes a likely $14.5 billion revenue decline in the so-called general fund and an overall 15.3% reduction in tax receipts from the budget forecast released in back in February, before the pandemic reached the Empire State.
The scaled-back state budget passed by lawmakers in April, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York, gave Gov. Cuomo wide authority to slash and adjust spending throughout the year.
“New York has so far safely re-opened large portions of the economy after curbing the spread of COVID-19, and while we remain vigilant to sustain our re-opening, the pandemic has done more damage to our economy than the Great Recession and is driving a fiscal crisis,” said Cuomo budget director Robert Mujica.
