Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Maria Doulis

Maria Doulis

  • ‘Possibility of a Prolonged Recession’: Coronavirus Could Wreak Havoc on City, State Budgets

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    Major challenges now & ahead for Mayor & Governor (photo: Rob Bennett/Mayor's Office)


    New York has weathered financial storms before, including after the 2008 recession and the September terror attacks in 2001. But the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to eclipse the scope of both those emergencies. The fiscal impact on the economy is impossible to predict with any certainty but suffice it to say, it will put a major dent in the city’s and state’s budgets for the coming fiscal year.

    In January, Governor Andrew Cuomo ...

  • City Council Push for Budget Transparency Falls Far Short

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    Johnson, de Blasio, Dromm (l-r) (photo: John McCarten)


    At several budget hearings earlier this year, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson took a hard line on transparency. He insisted that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration was being less than forthcoming on how money is spent and was hampering the Council’s charter-mandated authority to review and approve the city’s spending plan. To wit, in its official response to the mayor’s preliminary budget in April, the Council proposed adding 123 new units of appropriation -- budget lines that explain

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  • City Council Takes Harder Line on Mid-Year Budget Modifications

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    Speaker Johnson, center, CM Dromm, and Finance Director McKinney, background (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    Last month, before the New York City Council issued its budget demands for next fiscal year to Mayor Bill de Blasio and before the mayor eventually ignored nearly all of them in his Executive Budget plan, the Council called in administration budget officials to testify on a modification to the current year’s budget.

    In past years, budget modifications have been subject to the same perfunctory hearing.

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  • Fulfilling Johnson Promise, City Council Significantly Increases Its Operating Budget

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    Council Members Cumbo, Johnson & Dromm (l-r) (photo: John McCarten)


    The City Council’s Committee on Finance voted on Thursday to increase the Council’s operating budget to $81.3 million, an increase of nearly 27 percent from the current fiscal year’s budget of $64 million, following through on Speaker Corey Johnson’s promise to increase internal resources and produce a stronger role for the legislative body in areas such as land use and oversight.

    The City Charter allows the Council to decide its own budget, with no required oversight and

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  • What’s The [Data] Point? 2.7%, with Alex Heil of the Port Authority

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    What's The Data Point? Episode 24 -- 2.7%, with Alex Heil of the Port Authority [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

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    Alex Heil, chief economist for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, joined the podcast to discuss his economic forecasts for the Port Authority region; key trends around use

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  • With Some Contracts Now Expired, De Blasio Administration Begins Next Labor Negotiations

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    Mayor de Blasio at DC 37's union headquarters (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    As numerous labor contracts for thousands of city employees begin to expire, the de Blasio administration is already in the midst of new talks with municipal unions. The process revisits a key element of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s early tenure -- when the city faced an unprecedented situation wherein all the city’s labor contracts were expired -- and of the incumbent mayor’s first-term record: de Blasio regularly boasts of bringing to terms the outstanding workforce uncertainty

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  • Savings Debate Intensifies Ahead of City Budget Modification

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    Mayor de Blasio in a budget presentation (photo: NYC Mayor's Office)


    Reading the tea leaves and heeding calls to be more prepared for an inevitable recession, the de Blasio administration has formed a new unit in its budget office tasked with coordinating additional agency savings, a move expected to be more formally announced in conjunction with the coming November budget modification.

    City tax revenue growth has slowed, but a recession is not yet here, and may not be imminent. Though alarm bells have been ringing of late, city tax revenue

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  • De Blasio Releases New $82B Budget with 'Targeted Investments,' Additional Savings

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    photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office


    Mayor Bill de Blasio released his $82.2 billion Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 on Tuesday, increasing spending by about $100 million from his proposed preliminary budget while expressing concern about a possible economic slowdown and the effects of consistent underinvestment by the state and federal governments.

    The executive budget “continues a trajectory of progressive, responsible and honest budgeting,” the mayor said at the release at City Hall. “We believe that disciplined

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  • The City Council's Complicated Budget Math

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    Council Speaker Mark-Viverito and colleagues (photo: William Alatriste)


    Last week, the City Council’s finance committee voted to increase the Council’s operating budget for fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1, by $3.1 million, bringing it to a total of $64 million, a five percent increase over last year’s ...