I don’t want this to be a bashing of NYS government (we rightfully do this already), in all seriousness what is the state going to do?

Before COVID the state was already behind $6B per annum.   Heastie said they weren’t going to cut FSA services, meaning their intent was to make it up in taxes.  

Is that possible now?  Investors are going to claim losses, doctors will claim substantially reduced income, all the way down to blue collar salaries paying only against unemployment under the new federal tax structure.   Business taxes will be way down, casino profit sharing dead.

The state was floating SUNY before, that was nothing compared to this year or next.  

What would a reasonable state government do?  Yeah, I know, they aren’t reasonable, but I’m sure they’ve at least considered it.

So what can we expect?  Increased taxes?  Won’t make up the loss of revenue and taxpayers. And middle income taxpayers can’t be taxed to the point of losing homes.  

What are they going to do?

I expect state parks and the canal to be shut.  Road repair curtailed.  Taxes returned to counties to be about zero, so ditto at the county level.  All that though is piddling.  

Counties are already furloughing workers, will the state?

I’m thinking, I always have a solution to NYS train wreck economic decisions.  This time though I don’t think I could fix this one.   What would a responsible state government do?  What will the Cuomo regime do?

Seriously, why not? The state has certain financial obligations it has to meet and citizen workers are simply fodder to be exploited. I do not think Cuomo will lose any sleep over raising taxes because his chance of losing the next election is next to nil.

The state has very broad taxing power beyond that of the federal government (without constitutional amendments like the 16th). Elizabeth Warren floated the idea of a "wealth" tax which basically would not pass federal constitutional muster. But the state is a different matter. A 5-10% tax on financial assets would generate revenue. They could also elect not to exempt 401K, 403B and IRA contributions from taxes. Fees can be raised through the stratosphere (auto registrations, driver licenses, inspection fees, professional licenses). In fact auto fees are perfect because people need cars and hitting drivers in the pocket hard also gives the state the excuse it is trying to discourage driving. They can create even more new license requirements to hold just about any job. The fact is there are a lot of people who are captive here and can be squeezed.

Also on the matter of taxes, I am surprised this did not get more publicity: Health care workers who volunteered to help New York with coronavirus pandemic must pay state income taxes, Cuomo says. Yes, all those healthcare workers who put their lives aside and came to help New York owe income tax to the state if they were here 14 days or longer. The state has indicated they will go after people to pay. I just hope that if there is a second wave in the fall, these workers tell New York to take a hike when it comes begging for help. Any healthcare worker that comes back for a "round 2" deserves what they get from this state if they did not learn from "round 1".

Damn.  You’re right. Asset taxes.   They can’t raise auto inspection and registration fees because FSA can’t afford it, but they can nail those with more expensive cars and boats with an annual use tax.  

But that’s still peanuts.  Money comes from business and personal income taxes.

They can file for bankruptcy and adopt a reorganization plan that is fiscally sound.  But we know that will never happen with the demwits in Albany.

In theory they can but neither side wants to take its chances in federal bankruptcy court. Detroit and Stockton both came close but the sides blinked and settled. A ruling in favor of New York could cause a restructuring of the whole pension fiasco and really piss off the unions not to mention New York would never be able to borrow a dime again without paying usury interest rates. A loss for the state could permanently saddle taxpayers with a debt they could never get out of no matter what. So they agree to some minor restructuring and kick the can down the road.

Speaking of the economy, what’s the name of the bed and breakfast in the Catskills that an arfcommer owns?

As far as shutting parks and canal and not having any money - seems like a great time to overhaul Thruway rest stops for a few hundred million.

Hikes in state taxes and an increase in every fee or license that the state and local govt's can put on us. There will also be an increase in sales taxes for every county.

Cum stain Cuomo will come out swinging after not getting the massive bailout he wants Trump and congress to give him and tell NYS residents that Trump forced him to do this them.

I know, $450million approved yesterday with 16 rest stops to be completed next year...approved during the COVID pandemic and NYS facing the greatest budget crisis ever!   You can’t make this up!

I guess my question was ignorantly in the wrong direction- the answer is apparently “what budget crisis?”   OMG this is so ludicrous it’s hilarious.

And most New Yorkers will believe him I am sure they have quickly forgotten that we were looking at an $8 billion hole in January before this pandemic hit. All thanks to the free spending legislature and crony deals cut by the governor. Also our bloated budget. But it will be Trump's fault for not propping up the failed state.

I wondered for the last several years what would be the eventually tipping point that caused the state's house-of-cards to fall but I never imagined a pandemic. I assumed another 2008 type fiasco.

NY's COVID fiscal crisis....  I ate a cookie and it made me obese.

No one is immune from the fiscal crisis it's sort of like a virus.

I work for DOCCS (Corrections), and even before this COVID shit started there was talk of them closing 2-3 prisons this fiscal year (FY runs April->March). No closures have been announced yet as all un-necessary transfers have been stopped since March. I would imagine once things are settled down they will close several facilities; hopefully my area is safe as we already lost a facility about 8 years ago.

In the past week or two they also implemented a state-wide hiring freeze. I know it's easy to say that there are too many state workers, and it's probably true, but you can't use it as a blanket statement.

Examples: One of the people I supervise left in January for a promotion. Usually a spot has to be vacant for 6 months before you can interview/attempt to fill that position (depending on budget waivers etc). This allows the person to come back if they don't like the new job... it's a little odd, and I've only ever seen someone take advantage of it once (and it was only a week before they came back). Our department is already small (normally 4 people, now down to 3 including me) - and we are even busier tracking COVID expenditures. One of the other people I supervise has been filling in for two jobs basically - and when she takes more than a day off at a time it takes almost a week to get caught up (and yes we help where we can, I'm purposely being vague to stay somewhat anonymous). This also happened to me in my old job - if I took a week off I had a week's worth of work waiting for me, minus any "urgent" matters.

Also in my building (different department), two people were planning to retire in March, but because of COVID extended their retirement because they are in a critical area. With stuff winding down they re-submitted and now are retiring in the next week or two - and their positions will remain empty until we can hire again. (We might be able to get special approval because of the critical nature of the positions, unsure at this time)

On a related matter, the amount of money spent on medical care for inmates is INSANE. You know how people complain about high copays or insurance not covering medically-needed drugs? Just commit a crime and you get everything. Have Hepatitis C? Go to prison, get free treatment ($50k+). I don't anticipate anything changing on this end - they'll cut personnel and make things even more unsafe before they cut anything for inmates.

Does NYS receive money for taking care of COVID patients?

I'm ready for the state to implode, it kinda needs to.  I could see hiking the state portion of the sales tax 2%, so we're all paying 9.5-10% or so.  Auto registration and titling is fairly cheap here (well, outside of NYC, I'm guessing it's more expensive there) even compared to some western states.  I could see there being a 25-100% increase on that.  Of course, they'll increase gas tax to pay for the roads, it worked so well for PA, they've gotta see that as a success.  Yard sale taxes will be a thing, collecting sales tax for everything sold on those "for sale" groups, etc.

There's lots of ways they can squeeze us for more and more money, just give them a chance.  It won't stop until pmags start poppin'.  It'll eventually be a real shitshow, probably within my lifetime, but hopefully after we escape.

No offense Mikey, but DOCCS is probably the worst run organization under NYS control.  Management is a bunch of overpaid politicians, the parole board is a bunch of Democrat wash-up appointees, most programs are dog and pony shows, healthcare is horrible and providers are bottom of the barrel, there is zero effective mental health support despite that being the root cause so many are there,  drug use by COs is rampant, and rape in women’s prisons is routinely covered up.   I’ll suggest that 20% of COs couldn’t get a job at Walmart: the number may be 5% lower, more likely its 10% higher.   Security and ease of smuggling is a joke, the only reason it’s not ten times worse is that visitors are too stupid to observe the obvious holes.

Some of my friends are DOCCS COs.  Good people, somehow remain sane despite horrendous conditions they can’t improve because management and the union don’t want to.   But in general it’s a waste of taxpayer money that’s proven highly ineffective at the supposed purpose.  It is NYS.

No offense taken. I'm a civilian, but I've been through several promotions so I've seen several different areas. (only two different facilities though) I would definitely agree about upper management.... we've had an "Acting" Commissioner for how many years now? (he stays acting so he can still get paid from his side job - since that pays more than DOCCS) My previous facility I worked closely with the Executive Team (Deputy Superintendents) and they were great. Obviously every facility is different. (haven't been at my current one long enough to form an opinion)

One of my previous positions I worked closely with the Nurses and Doctors - some of the Doctors do it as a side gig (8am-2pm a few days a week) and do the bare minimum. Some of them treat the staff horrible and treat the inmates like angels. For the most part the Nurses were doing their best working a hard job (IMO).

Can't really comment on the CO thing; I'd say 95% of the COs I worked with were good people - obviously I wasn't around them all the time though. I had the opportunity to be on the "Safety & Environmental Committee" where we had a checklist of things to look at (working emergency lights, wet floor signs, work orders in for urgent matters etc), and I was paired with a Sergeant to go all over the facility (including in SHU, inmate dorms and in the towers).

Again, obviously I'm a little biased because I've had nothing but positive experiences. Places like Clinton (where the two inmates escaped from) - clearly had management issues and problems with complacency. It was also a much larger facility.

Package Room drugs... yes, big issue. Especially now, as staffing is redirected to cover vacancies throughout the facility, less officers are able to work in the package room. There was a program planned years ago to basically shutdown the package room. An outside (verified/screened) company would allow inmate's families to order items and have sent to the facility. However from what I was told, this was put on hold from on high.

I don't believe privately run prisons are the answer - are there areas for efficiency and change? Yes, but unfortunately the people in charge would never make those decisions.

Im going to comment on the co thing, I do it for a living. it is a incredibly poorly run organization but where do you get off saying that there is a huge amount of rape going on in prison other than swallowing the liberal line about prea? the vast majority of officers I have worked with were consummate professionals trying to make a living in a system that regularly bends to the aclu and the various sundry inmate advocacy groups out there. as far as bad apples, yes there are a few but they get tossed out regularly. you are wrong about the allegations you are throwing out there.