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Blog
Pensions & Benefits
Giving Credit Where It’s Due? New York City’s $1.3 Billion in Health Insurance Savings
December 28, 2014
In its recent mid-year budget modification the de Blasio administration credited a coalition of municipal employee unions with achieving $1.3 billion in savings in the City’s employee and retiree health insurance costs. Yet the unions have not agreed to any changes in the plan, and the City and the unions have taken no actions to reduce costs. How can this be?
Report
Housing
Making the Most of Monitorship
Leveraging the Opportunity to Meet NYCHA's Needs
May 26, 2022
In 2018, after decades of underinvestment and recurring management problems, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was on the brink of federal receivership.
Report
Housing
The Affordable Housing Crisis
How Bad Is It in New York City?
August 05, 2014
The policy brief, the first in a series on housing affordability, analyzes data from 22 U.S. cities to assess whether affordable housing is a nationwide problem or one particular to New York City.
Report
Energy & Environment
12 Things New Yorkers Should Know About Their Garbage
May 21, 2014
This report highlights the reasons for the surprisingly high cost of this essential service, including inefficiencies that the City should address in its upcoming negotiations with sanitation workers.
Blog
State Budget
The Challenge of Producing a $2 Billion Surplus
January 16, 2014
With school aid and Medicaid growing at annual rates at or above 4 percent, all other categories of spending, including agency operations, will face offsetting reductions to the plan if the net increase in overall state spending is to be kept to 2 percent.
Report
Housing
Amend it, Don’t End It
Improve 421-a to Spur Rental and Affordable Housing Development
March 15, 2022
Allowing 421-a to lapse would significantly reduce rental housing development, worsen the city’s existing housing supply shortage, and make New York City’s already scarce and costly rental housing scarcer and more expensive.
Blog
Public Workforce
Three Questions about 1,000 New Police Officers
June 18, 2014
As the New York City budget for fiscal year 2015 nears adoption, one of the more expensive Council initiatives, at an estimated cost of almost $100 million annually, is the hiring of 1,000 new police officers to increase staffing at police precincts.
Report
Energy & Environment
Getting the Fiscal Waste Out of Solid Waste Collection in New York City
September 23, 2014
With a new mayoral administration, a new sanitation commissioner, and an expired contract with municipal sanitation workers, redesigning the public and private components of local waste collection would save about $300 million annually in the long term. The Mayor and City Council should make this restructuring a goal and begin a multiyear phase-in.
Report
Housing
The Potential for Office-to-Residential Conversions
Lessons from 421-g
December 11, 2022
This brief analyzes how the 421-g program was used and offers lessons for designing a cost-effective program to support office-to-residential conversions in today’s market.
Report
Economic Development
Improving New York City’s Land Use Decision-Making Process
September 06, 2022
This report examines and identifies why New York’s land use decision-making process impedes action to address New York’s needs and recommends improvements.
Report
Economic Development
Determining an Appropriate Buffalo Stadium Subsidy
Don't Just Wing It
March 21, 2022
New York does not have a good track record of demonstrating that its economic development programs yield benefits exceeding their costs.
Blog
State Budget
Wise Measures: Three Proposals To Retain In The FY2015 Budget
March 20, 2014
Three proposals in the FY2015 budget that are meaningful reforms; they should not be omitted or watered down as they were in the Senate and Assembly “one-house” budget resolutions.
Report
City Budget
Track to Have Impact
How to Create NYC's Needed Federal COVID Aid Tracker
January 24, 2022
To support the COVID-19 response and recovery, an unprecedented level of federal aid has been flowing to New York City.
Report
Education
Vote "No" on the Smart Schools Bond Act
October 19, 2014
While enhancing the use of technology in schools is a popular cause, the Smart Schools Bond Act is ill-conceived and deserves a "no" vote for three reasons discussed in this report.
Report
City Budget
PEG for Productivity
NYC's Fiscal Year 2023 Program to Eliminate the Gap
April 05, 2022
To increase the City’s fiscal stability and the quality of priority services, identifying and implementing efficiencies to reduce recurring costs without reducing services should be a high priority.
Report
State Budget
Risky Business
What Could Happen If NYS Spends More… More… And Much More
March 23, 2022
The fiscal year 2023 State budget is being negotiated in the context of apparent unprecedented State fiscal strength, though economic and pandemic uncertainties serve as stark reminders to be prepared for emergencies.
Report
Education
More Money, Little Accountability
New York Continues to Increase State School Aid
October 03, 2022
New York State’s schools spend nearly twice the national average per student, without delivering above-average results in achievement.