For a state or city government, the yearly budget is a critical policy, planning, and fiscal document all in one. It lays out day-to-day costs, serves as a pass-through for smaller government units, funds long-term projects, accounts for revenue sources, and generally serves as a blueprint for leadership priorities. To account for all these components, creating the budget is a complex, iterative process that involves partners from across the geographical and ideological spectrum.
We developed the Inside the New York Budget Process series to break down the formal and informal steps in the New York State and City budget processes. Overall, the series and its briefs are meant to shed light on who makes key decisions in the city and state budget process, how and when decisions take shape, and where there are opportunities to provide input.
CUNY ISLG’s staff includes former senior city and state government officials, budget directors, legal experts, and department heads as well as community practitioners. Tapping into this knowledge, we developed the Inside the New York Budget Process series to break down the formal and informal steps in the New York State and City budget processes. Overall, the series and its briefs are meant to shed light on who makes key decisions in the city and state budget process, how and when decisions take shape, and where there are opportunities to provide input.
The relationship between city governments and their state counterparts is often complicated, layered with years of precedent, varying priorities, and different political leadership. This is certainly true with New York State and its most populous jurisdiction and economic center, New York City. Regardless, every year, they must come together in order to produce two key budgets: a State budget that reflects needs statewide, and a City budget that draws from it. In the forthcoming final installment of this series, we break this relationship down. Sign up here to be the first to know when it's released.