California, New York, and Pennsylvania, alongside nine others, used federal stimulus money to cover recurring costs that totaled 2.5% or more of their general fund expenditures in fiscal 2022. They could face budgetary gaps because of that spending, forcing government leaders to rethink certain programs and jobs, according to an analysis of disclosure filings as of July 2022 released Tuesday by The Volcker Alliance, a nonprofit research group.
In more recent filings, which weren’t included in the report, California increased the federal funds allocated for operations while New York and Illinois decreased their amounts, Bunch said. Of the other states that the report identified as moderate or elevated risk of a fiscal cliff, the amounts for operations remained about the same.
The Volcker Alliance’s analysis found roughly a quarter of the money allocated so far has gone to capital projects, such as funding for state roads, buildings, wastewater and broadband initiatives. A fifth was allocated to government operations, which are recurring expenses like salaries and the cost to run programs.
New York State has spent or disbursed $7.6 billion of the $13.5 billion in federal aid, which includes state and local funds, as of Aug. 31, according to the office of the New York State Comptroller.