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Blog
City Budget
Why the Latest PEG Is Not Likely to Be the Last in NYC's Budget
December 05, 2012
This blog explains why a savings plan, known as the "PEG" is necessary in the Nov 2013 NYC budget modification, examines the savings, and offers broader perspective on the city's fiscal challenges.
Blog
State Budget
How Sick Leave Can Be Bad for a Locality's Fiscal Health
(And Health Insurance May Be Even Worse)
July 01, 2012
“Excusable” borrowing appears now to be growing, extending to accrued sick leave and vacation days that are claimed by departing employees without money having been set aside to pay for them.
Blog
City Budget
Restoring City Priorities Along With Spending Cuts
June 21, 2012
The Mayor and City Council's “budget dance” focuses largely on child care slots and after-school programs, but should really be about the City’s overly generous contributions to the health insurance of former City employees and their spouses.
Testimony
City Budget
Testimony on the NYC Executive Budget for FY2013
To NY City Council Committee on Finance
June 06, 2012
First, the Council should focus on structural changes to municipal finances that will make budgeting easier in future years. Second, the Council should phase out the unusual practice of reimbursing retired municipal workers for their Medicare Part B premiums.
Op Ed
City Budget
Cleaning Up NY's Garbage Disposal
June 03, 2012
New York City generates more than 25 tons of garbage per minute. That's 14 million tons per year, and the city's Department of Sanitation spends $2 billion annually to collect and dispose of about a third of it.
Op Ed
Pensions & Benefits
Sneak Labor Giveaway
May 05, 2012
Across New York, the cost of health benefits for retired government employees is growing so rapidly that it threatens to crowd out funding for essential government services. Rather than lay off police or close libraries, public officials may want to use their discretion to alter retiree health insurance — but some state legislators are trying to take away that discretion.
Blog
Economic Development
Economic Development Reporting in New York City: What’s Missing?
April 11, 2012
In New York City, current reporting requirements fall short of capturing the full amount of spending in the name of economic development.
Op Ed
City Budget
Fix NYC’s ‘Prevailing Wage’ Law
March 27, 2012
The City Council is set to take up a bill to expand the prevailing-wage law to cover building-service workers in buildings and projects that get financial assistance from the city. Whatever the merits of that expansion, we urgently need much greater transparency in how the “prevailing wage” is determined.
Op Ed
City Budget
The Big Difference in Next Year's New York City Budget
February 23, 2012
Earlier this month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented New York City's Financial Plan for the next four years. It demonstrates a stark new reality: there is no large surplus of revenues, as there has been in past years, to help balance the budget.
Blog
City Budget
What’s Different About Next Year’s City Budget
February 09, 2012
Tax revenues are not exceeding expectations; they are just on target.
Blog
City Budget
Delaying the Pain
The truth about cost-cutting in New York City's November Plan
December 15, 2010
A closer look at the City November 2011 savings plan reveals two notable points: Nearly two-thirds consists of new revenue, and expenditure cuts are modest, although health, welfare, libraries and cultural institutions bear most of the burden.
Blog
Capital Spending
When Will the Capital Budget Cuts Really Arrive?
December 09, 2010
Failure to impose fiscal austerity on the infrastructure agenda is evident in growing levels of capital commitments.
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.
Op Ed
Pensions & Benefits
City Worker Pensions Vs. Kids
Bloomy Must Cut Youth Services Because Adult Costs Are Out Of Control
December 04, 2010
New York provides a troubling example of how the inability to contain costs associated with a large municipal workforce imposes a greater burden on the most vulnerable populations, notably low-income children.
Op Ed
City Budget
Reform New York City Municipal Union Welfare Funds
August 04, 2010
CBC president Carol Kellermann pens an op-ed that advocates for the reformation of the taxpayer-supported municipal union welfare funds.
Testimony
City Budget
Testimony to the New York City Charter Revision Commission
August 02, 2010
CBC submits this testimony to express our opposition to granting charter-mandated formula budgets to certain City offices, as doing so would be fiscally imprudent and would undermine the long-established process by which the Mayor and the City Council establish budget priorities as elected representatives.
Blog
Capital Spending
Mind the Gap
Funding Repair and Maintenance of New York City Infrastructure
July 26, 2010
Past neglect has created a need for nearly $5.6 billion in repair of existing facilities in New York City in order to bring them to satisfactory condition, known as a "state of good repair." Yet the City's capital budget allocates only about half, with the gap especially large for streets, hospitals, and parks.
Blog
City Budget
The City’s FY 2011 Budget: The Buck Stops Here
July 12, 2010
With significant budget gaps looming in the outyears and the end of nearly a decade of multi-billion dollar surpluses, it is disappointing that more has not been done to lower spending.
Op Ed
Housing
Rent Regulation: A Big Tax On NY
The Law Needs a Massive Overhaul
July 06, 2010
The push to continue rent regulation is fueled by far more populist rhetoric than economic reason. As a corrective, a new report by the Citizens Budget Commission reveals some startling facts about the current system.
Blog
City Budget
The Beginning of the End of Balanced Budgets for New York City?
June 23, 2010
What ought to be considered a dramatic reversal of a highly praised policy has been buried in an arcane legal change made by the Legislature at the request of the Mayor, allowing the city to borrow for pollution remediation.