New York politicians ignore the budget disasters ahead

New York’s gubernatorial election is less than 16 weeks away, but both Gov.Kathy Hochul and her GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman have largely escaped questions about one of the most substantial tasks New York’s governor will face next year: how he or she will balance the budget.Because with outlays soaring on the state’s priciest programs — Medicaid and school aid — the state is in dangerous territory.The spending plan approved in late May, nearly two months after the official deadline, continued Albany’s multi-year practice of hiking expenditures substantially faster than inflation.Even as the economy, and tax receipts have grown faster than expected, Albany has been spending money as fast as it comes in.State officials already estimate a $6 billion mismatch between revenues and expenses in the fiscal year that will begin April 1.That’s far from the biggest budget gap a governor has had to confront, but it’s notable how little people are talking about it — or about the overall shakiness of the state’s financial picture.State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli this week warned “[i]ncreased spending pressure continues to strain the State’s ability to find structural budget balance and puts into question the State’s future ability to make important investments.”Hochul early in her tenure squeezed lawmakers into putting aside cash in the state’s reserves to help weather the next emergency or economic downturn.

But those funds are smaller as a share of the state budget than they were two years ago, and they are poised to keep shrinking.Unfortunately, DiNapoli’s reports don’t appear on many summer reading lists: His office had also sounded the alarm about New York City’s slipshod finances last summer.Mayor Zohran Mamdani ignored him and then was shocked — shocked! — to learn the city had been spending more than it took in for three years.But these warnings should be heeded.Ignoring the avalanche of federal aid coming from Washington,About half...