What is New York City’s fastest-growing category of expenditures during the planning period?

New York City’s fastest-growing category of expenditures during the planning period is health and social services. The overall spending in this area is up due to several factors, including an increasing population, an older population that requires more healthcare, and new initiatives to increase access to care to underserved groups. This growth has also been fueled by the rising cost of prescription medications. This growth has been driven by inflationary pressures, which have affected wages and benefits.

To manage costs, different strategies are implemented, such as increasing the efficiency of services through technology investments, cost-containment measures in hospitals and clinics and encouraging preventative health initiatives. The expectation is that, if the efforts succeed, spending on this sector will start to stabilise or even decrease in coming years.