Final ballot props to cut outdoor dining application timeline by 75%, speed up bike lane creation by 33%, accelerate nonprofit contracts and building permits, and strengthen rainy day funds
COGE members will vote to adopt ballot props during public meeting at 5 PM today
After November election, COGE advisory board will continue to hear New Yorkers’ ideas about how to improve government – as administration furthers commitment to public excellence
The Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE), the 2026 New York Charter Review Commission, today released five final ballot proposals to make city government work better, faster and more efficiently for New Yorkers. The ballot proposals address outdated, unnecessary and redundant requirements in the City Charter to speed up permits and contracts, save small businesses money, accelerate housing and street safety improvements, strengthen fiscal responsibility – and ultimately, build a more modern city government.
These ballot proposals, accompanying COGE’s final report, are the culmination of 10 public hearings attended by 1,220 New Yorkers across the five boroughs, with 264 live testimonies and 603 pieces of submitted written testimony. While most of COGE’s recommendations will take the form of ballot questions, COGE additionally recommended, and the City is adopting, a number of internal reforms to agency processes that will make government more efficient. COGE was also clear: speed cannot come at the cost of labor standards, safety or quality. True efficiencies are gained not by shortchanging workers, but by listening to their expertise. COGE members will vote on adoption of the final report and ballot proposals at 5 PM today in Manhattan.
The Mamdani administration also announced the continuation of COGE’s efforts in a permanent structure, to further the work of government efficiency for years to come. Due to the enthusiasm New Yorkers showed for engaging with government directly and honestly, following the November election COGE will transition from a charter revision commission to an advisory board. This advisory body will engage New Yorkers about their ideas, explore additional ideas that began to surface during the COGE process this summer and use the input of everyday New Yorkers to advise the Mayor on ongoing efficiency reforms.
“In every borough, at every hearing, New Yorkers told us again and again that they want a government that works at the same speed and efficiency that they do each day,” said Patrick Gaspard, Chair of the Commission on Government Efficiency. “From simplifying construction permitting so we can rapidly tackle the housing crisis to making it easier to offer outdoor dining, we believe these proposals would help make our city more affordable and livable for working New Yorkers. The Commission looks forward to voting on the charter reforms this week and putting our proposals before New Yorkers at the ballot box this November.”
“This Commission is proud of its effort to suggest true efficiencies for how government can function, ones gained not by shortchanging workers or small business owners but by listening to them,” said Ann Cheng, Executive Director of the Commission on Government Efficiency. “Over the past few months, this Commission has scoured the Charter to determine what could be done to modernize our government to meet the challenges our city faces with the scale and speed they require. The Commission is thankful for the hundreds of New Yorkers who testified at hearings and informed these ideas.”
Prop 1: Speed Up Timeline for Using Public Space – Including Outdoor Dining, Ramps and Benches
- Cut the eight-month outdoor dining application process by 75% (to 2 months)
- Save small businesses up to $1,800 on application costs and thousands of dollars of staff time
The Commission’s proposal would modify the revocable consent process that determines the use of public space by combining the sidewalk café and roadway dining revocable consent process into a single application and modernizing public notice requirements.
Prop 2 and related non-Charter reforms: Reform the Contracting Process to Improve Procurements, including for Small Business and Nonprofits
- Ballot prop will save up to 30 days on procurements
- Internal reforms to cut qualified nonprofit procurement time by more than half (13 months to 6)
The Commission’s proposal would reduce burdens on small businesses and nonprofits by simplifying the pre-contracting questionnaire and requiring quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) to ensure consistent and transparent regulation of the City’s procurement system. The proposal would also allow the Mayor to delegate certain contract approvals to agencies, make permanent a public comment period instead of a public hearing for contract awards and streamline the issuance of the client services plan.
Beyond ballot props, the City will also begin to move nonprofit Council discretionary awards from procurements to grants, an approach that in pilot stage has shown to cut time to payment from 10 to six months. The City will also begin to competitively procure umbrella agreements with nonprofits to create pools of qualified, pre-vetted nonprofit providers eligible to receive future project-specific task orders, helping save up to seven months off a 13-month process. When approaching procurement, COGE took seriously its commitment to the labor force, both public and private sector, and specifically formulated recommendations that preserve all existing labor standards.
Prop 3: Fast-Track Street Safety Infrastructure Including Bike Lanes, Acquisition of Office Space and Activation of City Land
- Speed up street safety projects, including bike lanes, by at least 33%
- Reduce time for sale of small plots of City land from seven months to 90 days
- Unlock more than $200 million in revenue for the City from sale of small surplus lots
The Commission’s third proposal streamlines how the City uses its own property. The proposal would simplify review of street safety projects to reduce construction timelines and allow the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation to fast-track critical street infrastructure improvements where there is an identified, immediate safety need. Additionally, this ballot question fast-tracks the sale or lease of small City properties, the air rights above landmarked City properties and the lease of office space for City workers.
Prop 4: Simplify Building Permitting
- Bring 40 approvals from 18 separate offices and agencies into one place, saving builders time and frustration
The Commission’s proposal would create a centralized permitting hub through which applicants could access and manage construction-related permits and approvals across City agencies. It would also allow additional divisions at the Department of Buildings to approve certificates of occupancy and centralize the City’s waterfront permitting process within the agency.
Prop 5 and related internal reforms: Set Contributions Goals for Rainy Day Fund to Ensure Sufficient Budgetary Reserves
- Ballot prop establishes reserves target of 12%, aimed at ensuring long-term fiscal stability
- Internal reforms commit to review standard hires and promotions within 14 days and capital project initiation applications within 40 days
The fifth ballot proposal would set a target amount of funds held in reserve –– 12% percent of the City’s total tax revenues. The proposal would also require the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Comptroller, to establish a deposit formula that would govern mandatory contributions to the rainy day fund. Beyond the ballot proposal, the City will also begin implementation of OMB service standards for the review of hirings and promotions as well as the review of capital project initiation applications.
The Commission consists of:
- Patrick Gaspard, Chair
- Ann Cheng, Executive Director
- Emma Wolfe, Vice Chair
- Susan Kang, Secretary
- Marco A. Carrión, Commissioner
- Henry A. Garrido, Commissioner
- Kapil Longani, Commissioner
- Ruth Messinger, Commissioner
- Theodore Moore, Commissioner
- Ana Oliveira, Commissioner
- Dawn Pinnock, Commissioner
- Carlina Rivera, Commissioner
- Esther Rosario, Commissioner
- Marc V. Shaw, Commissioner
- Barika X. Williams, Commissioner
- Kathryn Wylde, Commissioner
COGE's proposed amendments follow broader efforts by the Mamdani administration to make city government more efficient. Just this week, the Mayor announced Overhaulin
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