Gotham Gazette

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City Budget

City Budget

  • At Hearing, Garodnick Lays Out Adams Administration Planning Values, Talks Budget and Policy

    City Planning Chief Dan Garodnick (photo: Joanna Graham/Mayoral Photography Office)


    In a presentation to the New York City Council Wednesday, newly-appointed Department of City Planning Commissioner Dan Garodnick discussed the Adams administration's proposed budget and values for how land should be used to shape the city's future.

    The Department of City Planning, which helps craft proposed changes to land use rules, including zoning regulations and applications, is working towards some of the pillars of inclusive economic growth and crisis adaptability contained in Mayor Eric Adams’ economic recovery

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  • New Investigations Commissioner Says Department Needs More Funding to Do Its Job Fighting Corruption in City Government

    Mayor Adams holds a cabinet meeting (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber critiqued Mayor Eric Adams' proposed cuts to her agency's budget Tuesday in testimony before the New York City Council, and called for a partial restoration of funds for what she said are "necessary" enhancements.

    Officials at the DOI, which investigates city government corruption, estimate the department would, baed on the mayor’s spending plan, see a reduction in funding of approximately $2 million in its Fiscal Year 2023 budget even after the agency makes

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  • ‘What We Don't Measure We Don't Manage’: Brad Lander on Top Priorities as the New NYC Comptroller

    Comptroller Lander and Mayor Adams in their prior roles (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive Brooklyn Democrat, is getting situated in his new role, which he calls the city’s “chief accountability officer.” As the comptroller, Lander’s citywide perch gives him a series of largely fiscal responsibilities mandated by the city Charter, including as a fiduciary to the public pension funds, a watchdog over city government finances, and the auditor-in-chief of city agencies.

    Two Housing Budget Items the City Council Should Push the Adams Administration On

    Housing in the Bronx (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


    When the New York City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings hosts its first preliminary budget hearing on Monday morning, it will be held against the backdrop of severe economic uncertainty for many New Yorkers. Inflation rose nearly 8% last month, driven by soaring food and energy costs, putting immense pressure on low- and middle-income families even as the job market remains robust for workers. Rents are also on the rise, in some cases increasing as much as 33% between January 2021 and 2022.

    In New York, this

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  • Questioning ‘Austerity,’ City Council Begins Examining Mayor Adams' $98.5 Billion Preliminary Budget

    Speaker Adams with Council Members Brannan & Brewer (photo: William Alatriste/NYC Council)


    The New York City Council on Wednesday kicked off the process of examining Mayor Eric Adams’ $98.5 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins July 1. It was the first of many hearings that will take place over the next several weeks as the Council digs into the first spending plan of Adams’ four-year term.

    Last month, Adams proposed a somewhat cautious budget while stressing “fiscal discipline.”

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  • Comptroller Lander Launches Tracker for City Spending of $11 Billion in Federal Pandemic Aid

    Comptroller Brad Lander, standing (photo: Office of New York City Comptroller)


    New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday unveiled anonline dashboard tracking how the city is spending and allocating more than $11 billion in federal stimulus funds. Lander pointed to several deficiencies in the city’s accounting of those funds, with unclear links between the source of funding and expenditures

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  • Will New York City Be Ready to Implement Landmark Building Emissions Law?

    Buildings of New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    New York’s Climate Mobilization Act of 2019, billed a “Green New Deal” for the city, included a groundbreaking law to cut carbon emissions by the biggest buildings, and the biggest polluters, in the city through caps and mandated energy upgrades and retrofits — or face financial penalties. The first set of emissions caps are set to go into effect in 2024, and the city has the complicated task ahead of setting new rules and regulations by the start of 2023, a formidable task with 10 months to go.

    While Mayor Eric Adams’ administration

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  • The Mayor's Budget, Federal Funding Cliff, and Impact on Low-Income Communities of Color

    Mayor Adams at a food pantry (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New York City and local governments across the state are drifting toward a fiscal cliff, one that will affect everyone from Staten Island to Champlain. The unprecedented flow of federal funding that culminated in the March 2021 American Rescue Plan will run dry over the next few years. This jeopardizes our nascent recovery and will be most disastrous for communities that were already the most economically insecure. It doesn’t have to be this way.

    To

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  • In First Budget, Adams Fails to Fulfill Pledge of 1% for Parks

    Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office

    Mayor Eric Adams as BK BP (photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP's Office)


    When he was running for the position and since becoming Mayor, Eric Adams publicly committed to increasing the budget for the Department of Parks and Recreation to 1% of the total city operating budget, which would mean nearly $1 billion annually. But as he presented his first budget plan this past week, an $98.5 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year,

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  • 'Laser-Focused on Fiscal Discipline': Mayor Adams Presents First Budget Plan

    (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

    Mayor Adams at City Hall (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday released a $98.5 billion preliminary budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The plan makes for a reduction in spending of about $4.3 billion compared to the last modification of the current fiscal year 2022 budget in November by Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio. With his first budget proposal, Adams outlined cost-cutting measures at city agencies, added funds to the city’s reserves, and made investments in

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Brad Lander on the City Budget, Nonprofit Contracting & More

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    Comptroller Brad Lander (photo: Susan Watts/Office of New York City Comptroller)


    February 16, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Brad Lander on the City Budget & Improving Nonprofit Contracting

    New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Democrat just seven weeks into his first term in the citywide position, joined the show to discuss his initial reactions to Mayor Eric Adams' preliminary budget plan, promised changes to nonprofit contracting, the city's infrastructure spending, his transition into the office and

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  • De Blasio Leaves Adams a City Budget Mess

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    Mayor de Blasio at a budget briefing (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography)


    Some of us in government are old enough to remember when Mayor Bill de Blasio took office almost eight years ago, fulminating to any reporter in earshot about how his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, left him with expired labor contracts that presented the city with an “unprecedented” fiscal challenge.

    “The future should not have been mortgaged in this way. But it was by the previous administration and we will have to grapple with it,” he told The Observer at the

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  • De Blasio Releases Final City Budget Update as Mayor, Setting Fiscal Stage for Adams

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    Mayor de Blasio giving a budget briefing (photo: Rob Bennett/Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio)


    New York City’s budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which began July 1, has increased to a record $102.8 billion, a $4.1 billion uptick since it was first adopted, according to the latest financial update released by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday. The increase in spending, driven by federal relief and stimulus aid, was accompanied by new savings in agency spending, reduced debt and pension costs, and lower projected budget gaps for the future than previously

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  • What's The [Data] Point? 47, with NYC Comptroller-Elect Brad Lander

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 112 -- 47, with NYC Comptroller-Elect Brad Lander [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    47 is the number of people who will have held the office of New York Comptroller once Brad Lander is sworn in on January 1, 2022. At a breakfast with CBC Trustees, President Andrew Rein sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with the Comptroller-elect, covering subjects including risks to New York’s budget, contracting reform, rezoning, and

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  • De Blasio Outlines Spending Plan for $5.9 Billion in Direct Federal Pandemic Aid

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    Mayor de Blasio's 'recovery budget' was helped by federal aid (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Since the March passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the nation's most recent pandemic-era stimulus package, de Blasio administration officials have been crafting a plan to use close to $5.9 billion in direct federal funding to New York City government.

    A new report from the de Blasio administration, required by the federal stimulus

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  • New Analysis Details Just How Late and Over-Budget City Infrastructure Projects Run

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    Infrastructure projects (photo: Edward Reed/City Council)


    New York City’s capital budget for building and maintaining essential infrastructure is dense, complicated, and opaque, making it difficult to examine how the city spends its funds and on what projects. It is well known, though, that the city’s capital budget process has been notoriously inefficient and rife with cost overruns and delays, leading to many questions about how the city is spending tens of billions of dollars on essential infrastructure maintenance, upgrades, and

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  • Watchdogs Worry About De Blasio's Last Budget, City’s Fiscal Future

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New York City’s budget has grown massively under Mayor Bill de Blasio and reached a record high of $98.7 billion for the current fiscal year. The latest spending plan, which the mayor dubbed a “recovery budget,” deployed a huge infusion of federal stimulus funds to restore services that were cut at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to expand existing programs, and launch new initiatives. But despite the mayor’s assurances that his successor, due to take office January 1, will inherit manageable

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  • City Launches Site Detailing $134-Billion Ten-Year Infrastructure Strategy

    City Launches Website Detailing $134 Billion Ten-Year Capital Strategy

    The mayor and others cut ribbon at new park (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The New York City Department of City Planning on Tuesday unveiled a new website that details its ten-year strategy for building and enhancing city infrastructure, including everything from housing and schools to transit systems, roads and bridges, parks, and water and sewage piping. 

    The ten-year capital strategy

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  • What's The [Data] Point? $103.3 billion - The New City Budget, with Comptroller Scott Stringer

    whats the data point


    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 109: $103.3 billion - the New City Budget, with Comptroller Scott Stringer [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    $103.3 billion is the total amount of spending authorized by the City Council for Fiscal Year 2022. While officials call it a budget of $98.3 billion, the larger figure reflects the full amount to be expended, including $6 billion available from the prior year due to higher than expected tax

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  • The New City Budget Fails Human Services Workers

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    Mayor de Blasio handing out food (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Human services workers are the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 response, and the new city budget has failed them.

    Many New Yorkers may not know that most social services are delivered by nonprofit
    organizations under city and state government contracts that consistently set poverty level wages for workers.

    Throughout the pandemic, when we heard about lines wrapping around the block outside of
    food pantries, childcare being provided for

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  • Mayor and City Council Reach Agreement on De Blasio's Last Budget, $98.7 Billion ‘Recovery' Plan

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    Mayor and Council Speaker in 2019 (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Wednesday announced an agreement on a $98.7 billion “recovery budget” for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins Thursday.

    The budget, the final one for both de Blasio and Johnson as they reach term limits, was $100 million more than the executive budget that the mayor unveiled in April, flush with billions in

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  • Effort to 'Defund the NYPD' Appears Stalled Ahead of De Blasio's Final Budget

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    De Blasio and the NYPD (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Even though cutting NYPD funding has become a popular position among many candidates running for mayor, City Council, and other offices this year, the city’s current leadership seems unlikely to embrace any significant cuts to the police department in the upcoming budget amid a sustained increase in gun violence and a glut of federal funding.

    “The voters of this city overwhelmingly, I'm convinced, want a balance. They want reform. They want non-discriminatory policing. They want respectful

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  • City Budget Negotiations and Comptroller Primary Collide

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    Corey Johnson and Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    The war of words between City Council Member Brad Lander and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, both Democratic candidates for city comptroller, continues to escalate as Lander raises concerns that Johnson will leverage the city budget to help his chances of winning the June primary. 

    Johnson and Lander are among the top contenders in the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller, which also features a number of sitting state legislators and several first-time candidates

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  • What's The [DATA] Point? $250 Billion, Democratic Comptroller Candidate Forum

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 107 -- $250 billion [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    $250 billion—the assets held by the five pensions funds for which the New York City Comptroller is custodian, administrator, and investment advisor. But that's not the Comptroller's only

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  • Democratic Comptroller Candidates Pitch Skills and Plans to Budget Watchdog

    Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Corey Johnson, David Weprin, Zach Iscol

    (l-r) Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Corey Johnson, David Weprin, Zach Iscol


    Six leading candidates running in the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller in the June election appeared at a forum on Tuesday to offer their perspectives on the role of the office, solutions to the city’s uncertain fiscal future, and how they would wield their powers to ensure city government is effective and fiscally responsible. 

    The candidates at the

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