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Testimony
Housing
Testimony on NYCHA’s Capital Spending of City Funds
Submitted to the City Council Committee on Public Housing and Subcommittee on Capital Budget
November 18, 2021
I will focus on two topics: first, how additional City capital funding and new policy approaches are helping to address NYCHA’s capital needs, and second, the process and procurement reforms needed to ensure that NYCHA spends all—not just City—capital dollars effectively and efficiently.
Testimony
City Budget
Testimony on Oversight of Changes to Municipal Retirees’ Health Care Plan
Testimony before the City Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor
October 28, 2021
This agreement starts right and then veers off course to miss the finish line because the resulting savings do not flow to the City’s bottom line.
Testimony
State Budget
Testimony on New School Aid Spending and Performance
Testimony submitted to the New York State Senate Committees on Education, New York City Education, and Budget and Revenue
October 05, 2021
New York State should ensure that this massive school funding increase drives results and target school aid to districts with the greatest needs.
Letter
Pensions & Benefits
CBC Urges Veto of 21 Benefit Sweeteners
A Letter to the Governor
October 04, 2021
CBC urges you to veto S4719A/A1414A, as well as 20 other bills when they are delivered to you.
Blog
Education
Making the Grade
New York State Should Ensure that Massive School Funding Increase Drives Results
September 15, 2021
New York’s schools open this year slated to receive more aid than ever from the State plus $11.4 billion in one-time federal pandemic aid that can be spent over four years.
Report
Energy & Environment
Balancing Incentives to Maximize Emission Reduction
Recommendations on Local Law 97 Implementation
August 26, 2021
To meet LL97’s emissions reductions goals most cost-effectively, DOB, in consultation with the advisory board, should tailor the policy and compliance rules to provide building owners the most cost-effective compliance paths.
Testimony
City Budget
Testimony on Preliminary Report on New York City Property Tax Reform
Submitted to the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform
June 16, 2021
CBC and many New Yorkers have called for reform of the City’s byzantine and unfair property tax system for decades.
Podcast episode
Education
270,00, with Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
April 29, 2021
270,000—the number of two-year, four-year, and graduate degree seeking students enrolled in the City University of New York (CUNY). For generations CUNY has been an engine of economic mobility. With New York City sitting at the inflection point between the pandemic-driven recession and its recovery, CUNY will play a key role in preparing students and workers for, and linking them to, new opportunities in a changing economy. CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez joined the podcast to discuss the pandemic's impact on CUNY, his efforts to partner with the private sector to open career opportunities for students and to bolster CUNY's finances, and how City, State, and federal budget decisions and proposals may stabilize CUNY in the future.
Blog
Public Workforce
A Premium Option
School Districts Can Save $850 Million By Following the State’s Lead on Health Insurance
February 22, 2021
In response to New York State’s fiscal year 2022 budget gap, the executive budget calls for a change to the composition of school funding.
Report
Housing
NYCHA’s Operating Outlook
More Uncertainty Amid Pandemic and Repair Needs
February 03, 2021
While one-time federal aid helped NYCHA cover its COVID costs in 2020, the outlook for 2021 depends on how NYCHA manages challenges it already faces.
Blog
Pensions & Benefits
Simple But Significant
Savings from the Elimination of the Medicare Part B Reimbursement
December 19, 2010
As New York’s elected officials consider options for balancing budgets in the face of record deficits, they should eliminate a public employee fringe benefit rarely offered anywhere else: reimbursement for Medicare Part B premiums.
Blog
Pensions & Benefits
What is OPEB and Why Does it Cost $9.4 Billion?
December 05, 2010
The true cost of retiree health insurance and "other postemployment benefits," or OPEB, was $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2010. Why it cost so much and what should be done about it.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
8 Things New Yorkers Should Know About Public Retirement Benefits in New York State
October 19, 2010
This report presents eight facts about retirement benefits for New York State and local employees intended to stimulate a substantive discourse on pursuing changes to prevent underfunding of the pension systems and to make retirement benefits more fair and affordable.
Report
Pensions & Benefits
Better Benefits from our Billion Bucks
August 02, 2010
This report describes the organization and financing of the union welfare funds, identifies and documents three problems with the current arrangements – limited accountability, poor financial management and inefficient provision of benefits - and presents recommendations to improve the use of these payments and provide taxpayer savings.
Letter
Pensions & Benefits
CBC Encourages Governor Paterson to Veto Benefit Sweeteners
July 22, 2010
The fiscal realities of the time have not deterred the Legislature from advancing dozens of bills enhancing benefits for State and local employees and retirees. Three were already sent to you for consideration this week; another will be shortly. We are writing to ask that you veto them.
Blog
Pensions & Benefits
Not so sweet
June 20, 2010
While the State and local governments struggle to pay for current salaries and fringe benefits of public employees and to fully fund the pension system for retirees - resorting to a "borrowing" scheme to stretch out required payments - the State Legislature has remained undeterred in introducing and acting upon bills that would add even more costs in the 2010 session.
Blog
Pensions & Benefits
The State and Local Pension Stretch
June 16, 2010
New York stands out for consistently setting aside adequate funds to make its employee pension systems fiscally sound, but political leaders are considering heading down a fiscally irresponsible path.
Report
Housing
Rent Regulation: Beyond the Rhetoric
June 01, 2010
This report is designed to inform debates over changes in rent regulation. It provides background information including a history of rent regulation laws and an overview of the rental housing market in New York City, it describes the benefits of current rent regulations in the forms of “discounts” to affected households and increases in “affordable” housing for New Yorkers, it assesses the evidence relating to criticisms of rent regulation, and it recommends future rent regulation policies based on the findings discussed.
Blog
Public Workforce
The Public and Private Sector Wage Disparity: An Update
May 24, 2010
The labor market case for more generous retirement benefits for public sector workers is no longer valid.
Blog
Education
High Time For Higher Education Funding Reform
April 13, 2010
Explains why the irrational and inequitable tuition policies at CUNY and SUNY should be replaced by a rational tuition policy that allows for regular increases but also does not reduce financial aid to students.