The New York State Legislature completed its work on the New York State fiscal year 2009-2010 budget on April 3, 2009.  The nine bills that comprise the budget were delivered to Governor David Paterson, who signed them on April 7.  The State Division of the Budget (DOB) reported on the enacted budget on April 28.  The CBC staff reviewed the budget bills and DOB report, and prepared this assessment. 

The key points are:

• Spending remains high and few cuts were achieved.
• No concessions were agreed to by public employee unions.
• Large tax and fee increases help support the enlarged spending. 
• Temporary federal stimulus aid is relied upon to sustain recurring spending commitments, creating a risk of large future budget gaps.
• A few positive steps were taken to reduce wasteful or poorly targeted reforms.