Patrick Orecki, the Director of State Studies at the Citizens Budget Commission, explained the long delay with the state budget is a concern, not just for the State’s planning purposes but also for budget planning on the local level.

The department has an 18% vacancy rate, among the highest among city agencies, according to a report this month from the Citizens Budget Commission. That is the equivalent of 334 jobs.

Budgeted and actual spending data from fiscal years 2016 through 2022 from Checkbook NYC compiled by the Citizens Budget Commission shows that many agencies – including non-uniformed agencies like the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Social Services – spend in excess of their overtime budgets.

Critics – including the good government group Citizens Budget Commission – have often argued using the tool makes it even more unlikely that lawmakers can review complex budget provisions before voting on them.

But as the Citizens Budget Commission notes, spending has been bolstered not only by expiring COVID aid, but also “extraordinarily high revenues” from Wall Street’s 2021 record year.

The CBC estimated the real budget gaps total $25.9 billion for the fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027 — compared to Adams’ over $17 billion. Both the CBC and the state comptroller argued the city should have increased its reserves in the upcoming budget, which total $8 billion, a record amount in dollar terms but not as a percentage of the overall package.

Those “extremely large” shortfalls should prompt the city to avoid any new spending despite its tantalizing tax revenues, and put more money in its rainy day fund instead, CBC President Andrew Rein said.

As the city is projected to stare down a budget deficit that could grow as large as $10 billion by 2026, Andrew Rein, president of the fiscal watchdog Citizens Budget Commission, said he doesn’t believe Adams’ executive plan places enough money into the reserves.

he watchdog group Citizens Budget Commission warned that there are risks in next year's budget, saying the city is facing a shortfall of almost $7 billion just one year from now.

Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the budget watchdog group Citizens Budget Commission, said her organization is worried the city isn’t properly planning now for big budget shortfalls that are expected in future years.

And the city’s bean counters will soon come to the precipice of several fiscal cliffs — essentially ongoing programs that have been funded with one-time injections of cash — and have offset much of their savings with new spending, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a budget oversight organization that has urged the mayor to better prepare for turbulent economic climes.

“It is in some ways both art and science,” said Ana Champeny, the vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group. “People don't just sit there and come up with numbers out of the blue. It is based on assumptions. The question is, what are the assumptions, and how conservative you are.”