Albany, NY - As a direct consequence for their handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the state of New York's budget office announced on Thursday that in the span of the next four years, the state could be in a $64-billion-dollar loss.
Aside from the projected billions of dollars' loss, the quarterly budget update also included that there is an estimated $14.5 billion revenue declination in the considered general fund.
Even before the pandemic reached the Empire State, the budget forecast that was released back in February also includes an overall 15.3% reduction in tax receipts.
The state budget which was passed by the lawmakers in April was scaled-back and during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in New York, the state's Governor Cuomo slashed and adjusted the spending of the Empire State all year round, New York Daily News reported.
Cuomo's budget director, Robert Mujica shared that the state of New York so far had safely reopened huge portions of their economy after curbing the spread of coronavirus.
However, Mujica shared that despite their efforts of making sure that the reopening will not result in additional casualties, still, the pandemic found its way to inflict more damage to the state.
The spending reduction of the state through June reached nearly $4 billion if compared to the previous year. As the state froze the hiring, the establishing of new contracts, the raise on the salaries, and the temporarily holding back of 20% of payments to local governments and others.
Read also: : California's Public Health Chief Steps Down After Disclosure of Gigantic COVID-19 Records Backlog
According to Yahoo! News, Cuomo's budget director also warned that if Congress will not approve the states' emergency funds that they have requested, the adjustments will most likely become permanent.
Mujica also mentioned that the Federal government must put an end after months of dithering and they must deliver the funds that states currently need because if they will not, the now considered temporary withholdings will become permanent reductions.
He also stated that the permanent reductions will greatly have a great impact on schools, government hospitals, and even fire and police departments.
The ominous call for assistance echoed the multiple requests of Cuomo over the last few months as the state badly needs it.
In an interview last week, Cuomo shared that if the $30 billion assistance coming from the federal will not arrive over the next couple of years, then he will not have any choice but to make very dramatic decisions.
However, despite the continuous pleas coming from the Empire State's governor, the pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears as the officials of the Trump Administration and the Republicans who are in control of the Senate have so far declined to give any attention to the idea of giving out federal funds as an aid to the struggling states.
Based on the latest COVID-19 update of the state of New York posted on the governor's website, the Empire state tallied a record high in test results that have been reported at 87,900 while only 0.84% of tests the other day tested positive.
After the confirmation of the 737 additional COVID-19 cases, the state now has a total of 423,440 cases.
Related article
: UK Experiences Worst Economic Downturn in History Due to Coronavirus
