DIVISION OF THE BUDGET RELEASES ENACTED BUDGET FINANCIAL PLAN

The Division of the Budget today released the State’s 2011-12 Enacted Budget Financial Plan, which sets forth the State’s budgetary projections through the 2014-15 fiscal year. The adopted budget eliminated a $10 billion budget gap without raising taxes or increasing borrowing and cut the projected four-year deficits by 84 percent.

The Financial Plan reflects the impact of historic reforms enacted with the 2011-12 budget to redesign state government and cap the growth of both education and Medicaid spending, the largest areas of the budget.

All Funds spending will total approximately $131.7 billion, a decrease of $3.1 billion from the previous year. State operating spending for 2011-12 will total $88.2 billion, an increase of $1.7 billion or 1.9 percent.

The Enacted Budget Financial Plan reflects savings achieved through several measures to redesign and right-size New York’s government, including:

• State operations: The Financial Plan reflects 10 percent year-to-year general fund reductions for overall state agency operations, with comparable reductions for the State and City University Systems. State operations reductions will total $1.5 billion for 2011-12. This includes workforce cost reductions of $450 million.
• Realigning School Aid: The Enacted Budget Financial Plan reflects that education financing has been realigned to meet New York’s fiscal reality. This is accomplished through a two-year appropriation and permanent law changes to limit future school aid increases to growth in the New York state personal income rate.
• Redesigning Medicaid and Health Care: The Enacted Budget Financial Plan reflects historic controls on Medicaid spending that will limit growth of future spending to the 10-year rolling average of the Medical CPI, currently 4 percent. As Medicaid represents the largest and, until now, one of the fastest growing components of state spending, this is a major contributor to the closing of out-year budget gaps.

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