David Friedfel, director of state studies for the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan watchdog, said New York’s deficit for the coming fiscal year is closer to $17 billion because the official estimate assumes there will be $8 billion of recurring cuts in the $101 billion operating budget that have yet to be detailed.

“It’s very unlikely that the federal government is going to provide aid in the amount or duration where it will be sufficient,” he said​

The state is under fire from good government groups who criticized the ploy, saying it is just delaying the inevitable by pushing off costs to the next budget in hopes of additional multi-billion dollar coronavirus aid from the feds. The plan depends on lawmakers making a deal for an enormous rescue package for cash-strapped cities and states throughout the country. Opponents warn that this can exacerbate future deficits. “Paying bills late does not save you money,” said Andrew Rein, the head of the Citizens Budget Commission. “We’re just going to have the same problem we have today, but instead we’re going to have it tomorrow.” Mayor de Blasio’s tenure will end after 2021, potentially leaving a budget mess for the next incoming mayor.

“They’ve been going hard after administration, which they should — but operations are where the bulk of the money is,” said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a financial watchdog. The M.T.A. should think about cuts in terms of “efficiencies first and service level second,” he added.

“Those are not labor savings, those are payment deferrals or kicking can down the road,” said Maria Doulis, vice president of strategy, operations and communications at the Citizens Budget Commission. “In every other fiscal crisis, labor has been able to come to the table to find savings. It’s a critical missing piece of the puzzle.”

The mayor’s plan falls short, according to Andrew Rein, president of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission.

“New York City is in the midst of a fiscal crisis and should budget accordingly. This budget update does not meet the moment,” Rein said.

Future savings, he said, is less than one-half of 1% of city funded spending.

“For the city to be stable in the long run, it needs to restrain spending to a level that will be sustainable when the economy recovers and any federal aid is depleted. The mayor should be asking his commissioners for significant reductions that he can now include in the next preliminary budget.”

“We are in a fiscal crisis, we need to budget like we are in a fiscal crisis and this budget doesn’t meet the moment,” Andrew Rein, head of the nonpartisan Citizens’ Budget Commission, told Gothamist/WNYC.

The watchdog Citizens Budget Commission called for restrained spending and a commitment to “recurring” budget savings.



“We need to budget like we’re in a fiscal crisis and we’re not,” the group’s President Andrew Rein told the Daily News.



“This budget should have had a major major savings plan and it doesn’t,” he added. “We need to ensure the next budget does.”

The Citizens Budget Commission criticized de Blasio for failing to more seriously cut costs while increasing spending at a time of great uncertainty.


“Spending should be restrained to a level that is sustainable when the economy recovers and federal aid is depleted,” the Citizens Budget Commission said in a statement.

Independent budget watchers said Mr. de Blasio doesn’t do enough to achieve necessary savings, instead deferring payments to future budgets. There could still be more budget cuts at the agency level, said Andrew Rein, the president of the independent Citizens Budget Commission.

Other ways to save money could focus on maintenance costs. Figures from the federal Department of Transportation’s 2018 National Transit Database show that the NYC subway system spends four times as much per track-mile on maintenance as any other American subway system; maintenance on the commuter railroads, especially LIRR, is also inefficient. Research by the Citizens Budget Commission suggests that improving subway maintenance practices, as well as getting LIRR maintenance productivity up to just Metro-North levels, could save $1 billion annually.

“Paying bills late does not save you money,” Citizens Budget Commission head Andrew Rein notes. “We’re just going to have the same problem we have today, but instead we’re going to have it tomorrow.”

While acknowledging the urgent need for federal aid, Andrew Rein, president of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission, urged the MTA to use “all tools available.”



“The choices are difficult and may require a break with the great tradition of widely available 24/7 service in order to focus resources on delivering the core services the regional economy depends upon,” Rein said. The open question, he added, is whether the proposed service cuts could dampen regional economic recovery.