The Hochul administration released its mid-year update to the enacted budget last week.

According to Patrick Orecki, director of State Studies for the Citizen’s Budget Commission (CBCNY), the November update is particularly important because it serves as the final guidepost before the executive budget is released in January.

“This is our last look before the executive budget is proposed in January…so this update accounts for what’s happened over the first six months of the year and what we’re looking at going forward,” Orecki told Capital Tonight.

The midyear update showed slightly favorable changes on both sides of the ledger, according to Orecki.

“In the current year, fiscal 2023, we saw both a little bit of improvement in the state’s tax receipts versus what was expected…and a little bit lower in costs,” he explained.

Keep in mind that these projections come after the state had already lowered tax receipt expectations over the summer. 

Out-year budgets still see gaps of between $3 to $6 billion.

“This is a slight move back up, but still, tax receipts are considerably lower than where we expected them to be when the budget was enacted in April,” said Orecki.

The state’s so-called quick-start statutory deadline is Tuesday. It’s not clear whether both houses of the Legislature will be producing their own reports.