But according to an analysis of the preliminary budget by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) — a fiscal watchdog group that takes into account future expenses that the mayor did not include — Adams is in fact proposing to increase city spending by 2.3%.

Andrew Rein, president of the CBC, praised the budget overall, calling it “a victory for fiscal integrity.” But he warned of “looming fiscal cliffs” that will occur once federal stimulus dollars that are in the current budget dry up.

“It’s a real change in his whole approach to government,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog. “The last mayor was an expansive government mayor who saw problems and added programs. He didn’t try to increase efficiencies and reduce spending in government.”

De Blasio's final budget crept past $102 billion prior to leaving office in December. The city had a $76.3 billion budget by the end of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s third term in 2013, according to Nicole Gelinas at the Manhattan Institute, and that leap past the $100 billion threshold reflected a 33.9% spending increase under de Blasio. Between 2014 and 2019, city agency spending increased $15 billion, while central budget costs—fringe benefits, pensions and debt service—increased $4 billion.

Much of the jump toward $100 billion budgets can be attributed to $20 billion in federal aid Washington provided the city to fight Covid-19, according to Raul Jain, state deputy comptroller for New York City.

On Wednesday, the Citizens Budget Commission released a statement concluding Adams’ preliminary budget proposes “important, welcome, and refreshing initial steps in the right direction.”

During his speech, Adams admitted that even though there are signs of economic improvement after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, he’s not willing to take anything for granted in a local economy that has only recovered 55% of its pre-pandemic jobs. He said that targeting waste and inefficient spending through the PEG program will “ensure our finances promote growth” and make the city more resilien

“Agencies were told to think about reducing underutilized programs, streamlining services, finding efficiencies and taking down vacant positions,” explained Ana Champeny, director of city studies at the CBC. “They were told you can’t raise fees, resort to layoffs or cut services, and they were told to submit proposals of specific cuts by January 21.”

When compared to the current iteration of the budget — which grew throughout the year — city spending only went up “modestly, by 2.3 percent,” Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein said.

“Mayor Eric Adams’ preliminary budget proposes important, welcome, and refreshing initial steps in the right direction, especially reducing unneeded vacant positions to realize recurring savings and removing the $500 million in specious labor savings — a victory for fiscal integrity,” Rein said in a prepared statement. “Still, to bolster New York’s competitiveness and ability to serve New Yorkers in the future, the city should take significant additional actions … to make government more efficient, stave off the looming fiscal cliffs and save for the inevitable next downturn.”

Rein applauded Adams for a $2 billion citywide budget cut over an 18-month period. The administration will save $18.2 million next year by suspending the expansion of a curbside organics program from the Department of Sanitation, for example, and $49 million by closing hotels used as homeless shelters for families. The administration eliminated 3,200 vacant municipal government positions in the current fiscal year and 7,000 positions for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, as part of a $2 billion PEG.

But, Rein warned of the unfunded raises for city employees set to bargain for new contracts.

Mr. Adams said that his budget proposal fulfilled his campaign vow to find savings, and some budget experts agreed. Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, said the proposal included “important, welcome, and refreshing initial steps in the right direction,” including “reducing unneeded vacant positions.”

On keeping police spending flat, Mr. Rein said: “He’s exactly right on that. I think that’s the right approach.”

7. Tax revenue: The city relies on revenue from property, personal income and business taxes to fuel its spending on the nation’s largest public school system, police department and affordable housing program. To that end, Lander has projected a rosier picture for property tax returns, which he recently estimated would bring more than $1 billion over city projections into municipal coffers. In November, de Blasio’s budget office accounted for increases in all types of tax revenue over the next year — now Adams will have an opportunity to pencil in his own estimates. The Citizens Budget Commission notes in a recent blog post: “While high Wall Street profits and intergovernmental transfers propped up personal income taxes and business taxes in fiscal year 2021, market volatility and an end to federal transfers, such as expanded unemployment insurance and the Paycheck Protection program, may slow tax revenue growth in the next few years.”

8. Savings plan: Rather than require agencies to find recurring savings, de Blasio favored one-time reductions that had no effect on government efficiency. Adams, on the other hand, has already called for agencies to cut 3 percent of their budgets with few exceptions. The mayor wants agency heads to first focus on eliminating vacant headcount before looking toward other cuts while leaving service levels intact. The Citizens Budget Commission estimates this belt-tightening exercise could save the city $1.7 billion this year alone. When asked if the NYPD would also be exempted, Adams wouldn't say.

Bishop spoke at a New York University panel ahead of Mayor Eric Adams’ budget presentation next week. Bishop was joined by Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, and Martha E. Stark, a former commissioner of the Department of Finance and a professor of public service at NYU.

Here are the main pieces of advice the panel had for the Adams administration concerning the city’s largest source of revenue.

Whatever the final numbers, the budget the new mayor unveils for the fiscal year beginning July 1 will signal what his priorities are both for this year’s spending and for his first term more generally.

“The budget will be the fuel that drives much of what the administration hopes to accomplish,” said Ana Champeny, deputy research director at the Citizens Budget Commission. “It will manifest Mayor Adams’ programmatic priorities, approach to relief and recovery, commitment to efficiency and quality, and how much he is willing to help protect New Yorkers from future fiscal threats.”

The average monthly rent for new renters in Nassau shot up by 35 percent over the last year, according to a report from Redfin, with new renters paying an average of $3,718 a month in Dec. 2021.

Besides the high prices, Long Island lags other major suburbs in creating new housing. From 2010 to 2018, municipalities in Nassau and Suffolk approved the lowest number of new housing units per 1,000 people than suburbs in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland, according to the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission.

The fact that employees avoid the office but still go out for social activities in their free time was also not lost on Gov. Kathy Hochul, who made similar statements during a Citizens Budget Commission breakfast last week, Commercial Observer previously reported.

“You know what’s fascinating, the restaurants are packed, you can’t get a hotel room, but people don’t want to go into work,” Hochul said last week. “So they’re here. They just want to keep sitting in their apartment.”

“Business leaders tell everybody to come back,” Hochul added. “Give them a bonus to burn the Zoom app and just come back to work.”

The Citizens Budget Commission called Adams’ and Jiha’s request “premature,” given further federal funding that may be coming to the city.

In making his case to expand the earned-income tax credit — a tax break for low- and moderate-wage earners — Adams argued that the city and state haven’t increased it in almost 20 years. And he called on lawmakers to help the poor and the working class by approving an expansion of child-care tax credits — something Gov. Hochul has proposed in her budget plan.

While tilting gas tax revenues towards more good than evil has a certain appeal, there is a problem inherent in relying on them to do too much for too long. After all, the state and the country are moving away from gas-powered vehicles and towards the use of electric vehicles, which means that the new ratio would itself be a temporary fix. The Citizens Budget Commission for instance, has suggested that the state move towards a vehicle mileage tax to fund transportation improvements. But as long as the gas tax is the thing in this time of big federal money for roads, Pearlstein argued that the state should make the most of it.

New York provides limited health coverage to some undocumented immigrants through its Child Health Plus plan for low-income children under 19 and emergency Medicaid benefits, which only cover certain emergency conditions, cancer and end-stage renal disease for immigrants earning below 138% of the federal poverty level.

Orecki said the cost of the Essential Plan expansion would be offset by a reduction of about $316 million in spending on the emergency Medicaid program and an additional $4 million in state tax revenue.

The report projected that hospitals would see their annual spending on uncompensated care drop about $19 million. Providers would also benefit, because they would receive greater reimbursements, Orecki said.

Orecki noted that both the costs to the state and the number of immigrants who would enroll would depend on the program's structure, such as monthly premiums and whether plan members face cost-sharing.