New York City Comptroller Scott M.
Stringer presented his office’s analysis of New York City’s Preliminary
Fiscal Year 2015 budget in the context of the local and national
economies at the Municipal
Building in Lower Manhattan.
“We are at a moment of great transition in our City,” Stringer said. “Mayor de Blasio’s Preliminary Fiscal Year 2015 Budget strikes a prudent balance between funding vital programs while putting aside money for future needs. However, we still face some big unknowns that must be resolved between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30th.”
“We are at a moment of great transition in our City,” Stringer said. “Mayor de Blasio’s Preliminary Fiscal Year 2015 Budget strikes a prudent balance between funding vital programs while putting aside money for future needs. However, we still face some big unknowns that must be resolved between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30th.”
As the City’s Chief Fiscal Officer,
the Comptroller has a charter-mandated duty to comment on the financial
condition of New York. Today’s analysis focused on the economic and
fiscal trends affecting the City
such as weak wage growth, bright spots in the local economy – including
the city’s burgeoning tech sector – and the importance of resolving
more than 150 expired labor contracts.
“Negotiating contracts with the City’s
workforce is a complex and daunting task, but it is critical that we
resolve these contracts if we are going to achieve real balance,”
Stringer said. “We have always faced
budget challenges in this city and we have overcome those challenges by
working together. I am confident that we will find ways to keep the
City growing, ensure workers are compensated fairly and maintain New
York’s status as the greatest city in the world.”
Stringer noted that unlike most years,
the budget was balanced for FY 2015 prior to the release of the
Preliminary Budget, which allowed Mayor de Blasio to prudently set aside
new revenue – $1 billion into the
Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund, and $300 million to the general
reserve. The budget also provides for important new policy initiatives,
including a municipal ID system, relieving NYCHA of the burden of
paying for its own police protection and capping
rental costs for those with HIV/AIDS who live in city-supported
housing.
Stringer presented ten strategies for
discussion that could potentially generate revenue or create the savings
needed to support our budgetary needs:
1. Restoring revenue sharing to New York City
2. Collecting education funds due to the City under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity
3. Drawing down federal Medicaid funds for special education services
4. Claiming New York City’s share of the $8 billion federal Medicaid waiver
5. Producing agency savings from efficiencies that don’t reduce services or hurt vulnerable populations
6. Achieving savings through productivity and benefit reforms including health care costs
7. Reforming tax expenditures
8. Generating additional savings in FY15 debt service through aggressive refinancing
9. Recognizing FY14 resources from prior year payables that are not needed
10. Realizing savings from ending the budget dance and member item reform.
