Dear New Yorkers,
Last month, Mayor Adams empaneled a Charter Revision Commission, ostensibly to review the City Charter and propose ways to improve City government. While there is good reason to doubt Mayor Adams’ motives for hastily appointing the Charter Revision Commission (done as part of ongoing battles with the City Council), there’s no doubt that our City would benefit from better management—including better fiscal stewardship.
Responding to this opportunity, our Office has proposed a A Stronger Fiscal Framework for New York City, a comprehensive set of proposals to solidify our financial foundation for the future. Five decades after the City’s fiscal crisis led to the Financial Emergency Act (FEA), our proposals build upon the FEA’s core provisions.
Our five proposals would ensure that we (1) accumulate sufficient “rainy-day” reserves for times of economic recession, (2) mandate regular efficiency reviews to run City agencies more efficiently while avoiding cuts to vital services, (3) ensure the long-term affordability of the City’s debt, (4) overhaul our capital planning to better face the future in an era of aging infrastructure and climate crisis, and (5) start paying our vendors on time – including our nonprofit human service providers and MWBEs – something we have failed to do for many years.
I’ll be testifying before the Charter Revision Commission this week and urging them to place these proposals on the ballot this fall for voters to consider.
I’m also excited to unveil a great new municipal transparency tool developed by our team. Today, we are launching the NYC Agency Staffing Dashboard, which includes the number of authorized and actual full-time employees for each City agency. Our Spotlight this month includes analysis of City employment and vacancy trends before, during, and since the pandemic. But you don’t have to take our word for it. The dashboard allows you to look at authorized and actual headcount, by agency and employee type, going back to FY 2017, and will be updated monthly.
In other words: we invite you to join us in watching the numbers,
