NY's DiNapoli says state's cash to hit all-time low

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York State's comptroller said on Tuesday the state's cash resources will reach an all-time low after $3.5 billion in payments are made on Wednesday.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a statement that the state "is literally down to petty cash" as it faces a $1.3 billion Medicaid payment and $2.2 billion in property tax relief and school aid payments on Wednesday.

Those payments could push the state's closing cash balance into negative territory for the first time in at least 15 years, depending on how much revenue the state takes in on Wednesday, according to Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli.

As of Tuesday, New York had only an estimated $3.2 billion of cash on hand.

"New York State is barely scraping by in December," DiNapoli said.

New York, like other U.S. states, has been hit hard by the economic recession.

Earlier this month, Robert Megna, the state's budget director, predicted the state would end December with a negative cash balance of more than $1 billion if it paid all of its bills on schedule.

(Reporting by Tom Ryan; Editing by Dan Grebler)