Gotham Gazette

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City Budget

City Budget

  • 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

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    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

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    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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  • Rightsizing the Police Budget will Enable a Safer, Healthier and More Equitable City

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    NYPD (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    On April 26, Mayor de Blasio presented his executive budget plan for the city’s next fiscal year, FY22, which begins July 1. In it, he included slight increases to the NYPD’s budget. This comes on the heels of the largest civil rights movement in a generation demanding reinvestments and the heartbreaking murders of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright. If I were in the City

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  • What is New York City Doing to Prepare Its Workforce for the Post-Pandemic Economy?

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    Resource Fair (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    With the announcement Friday of a $155 million investment in small businesses, including $5.5 million for workforce development programming, Mayor Bill de Blasio staked a foothold along a critical frontier in New York City's pandemic recovery: preparing workers for the changing economy.

    The city's economy was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the unemployment rate jumping fivefold to a high of over 20% last June. In-person jobs have contracted significantly, especially in hospitality, nightlife, retail, and

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  • After Overstating Budget Deficits, Cuomo and De Blasio Get Big Federal Bailout

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    Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have spent many months warning New Yorkers about cratering tax revenues because of the coronavirus pandemic, outlining yawning budget gaps that could force them to make drastic spending cuts to state and city services and lay off thousands of government workers. But while the fiscal future remains uncertain, their worst predictions did not come to pass — revenues were higher than expected and significant federal aid has flowed to New

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  • Mayoral Candidates Flunk First Budget Test

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    Budget work (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography)


    Of the endless forums that are being held in the mayoral primary race, the only one that has specifically focused on the City’s fiscal situation and budget was the one last week held by the Citizens Budget Commission, my former organization. (You can watch it here, or read Gotham Gazette’s detailed summary ...

  • Amid Great Uncertainty, City Council Begins Examining De Blasio's $92.3 Billion Preliminary Budget

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    Budget Director Jacques Jiha (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    The New York City Council on Tuesday began its examination of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $92.3 billion preliminary budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The hearing was the first of many that will take place over the next few weeks as the Council digs into the mayor’s final budget plan of his eight-year tenure and as key questions remain about the city’s fiscal future. 

    The coronavirus pandemic stripped the city of billions in tax revenue,

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  • What's The [Data] Point? $5.3 Billion, Mayoral Candidates Discuss the City Fiscal Crisis

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 102 -- $5.3 Billion, Mayoral Candidates Discuss the City Fiscal Crisis [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    cbc mayoral forum$5.3 billion is the current estimate of the budget gap the next Mayor will have to close in her/his first year. Ben Max and CBC President Andrew Rein introduce listeners to

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas for Solving City's Budget Crisis

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    Mayor de Blasio at a budget presentation (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    New York City is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, with billions in lost tax revenue and large projected budget gaps in the years ahead. It’s a crisis that the next mayor, likely the winner of the Democratic primary this June, will inherit. At a mayoral forum on Wednesday, eight of the top contenders vying for the Democratic nomination offered their solutions to the city’s budget woes, pitching ideas to fix city

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