Includes IBO Expenditure Projections, IBO Revenue Projections, Pricing Differences Between IBO and the Bloomberg Administration, and IBO versus Mayor's Office of Management and Budget
Economic Forecasts.
Despite the increased number of jobs in New York City between 2011 and 2012, employment of city residents did not increase, leaving the unemployment rate high and leading to an analysis of these contradictory statistics.
This report by the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) shows the reestimate of the Mayor's preliminary budget for 2014 and financial plan through 2017. Included are detailed data on projections for revenues and expenditures, as well as comparisons on forecasts between IBO and the Mayor's Office of Management and Budget.
This New York City Independent Budget Office report examines the allocation of funds to schools through Fair Student Funding. Included in this document is the purpose of the program, its implementation in schools, data relevant to its implementation, and projections for future improvement.
The Bloomberg Administration is now proposing a major rezoning of East Midtown. Concerned that his new initiative would compete with Hudson Yards and slow the revnue growth neededto make
Hudson Yards self-supporting, Council Member Daniel Garodnick asked IBO to review city spending to date on the plan and to consider the short-term outlook for revenues at Hudson Yards.
With this publication, the IBO examines ways that the city could save money or raise revenue, and impartially analyze the pros and cons of each option. An option's inclusion in the volume does not
imply a recommendation, nor does the omission of an idea mean IBO does not consider it viable.
From an analysis conducted on Mayor Bloomberg's Executive Budget for 2014 and Financial Plan through 2017 for the City, it is projected that the city will end each fiscal year with a surplus. However, the city still faces fiscal issues, with federal funds being cutback and new contracts for employees being developed, which may have a negative impact on the city's expenses.
This New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) report shows the New York City public school indicators on demographics, resources, and outcomes. This document includes a background on public schools and data on these schools related to diversity and performance.
This New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) report shows the initiatives taken New York City to improve its response to medical emergencies. Analyzed in this report are data and information regarding the costs of having a stronger initiative as well as the improvements made over the time period 1999 to 2011.
This updated guide to the New York City Capital Budget by the Independent Budget Office addresses the intricacies and the operations that go behind managing the budget. The document defines the capital budget, its components, and the various resources that contribute to it.
This report summarizes the fare and toll increases implemented by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to accommodate the fiscal health of the city from 1996 to 2013. Given the financial pressures the MTA continues to face, fare increases are likely to continue.
The Mayor’s latest capital plan adds more funding for the development and preservation of housing over the next five years. Which programs are getting an increase?
LETTER: How much would it cost to have a social worker in every New York City public school? Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer asked—and we answered.
EXECUTIVE BUDGET FOCUS: After years of struggle, NYC Health + Hospitals’ fiscal condition has improved. Part of the elixir has been increased city support. But will this support be able to continue?
When a low-income household loses their income or faces an extraordinary bill, they can face a utilities cutoff--or eviction. Did the pandemic lead to a surge in one-time emergency housing grants by the city?
EXECUTIVE BUDGET FOCUS: With a boost from federal Covid-related funds, the Mayor’s budget plan enables the sanitation department to restart a variety of program cut during the recent budget crunch.
For years, nonprofit social & human service providers have contended that city contracts did not fully cover indirect costs such as rent & utilities. The de Blasio Admin promised more funding, then reduced the allocation. Now the initiative to support indirect costs is fully funded—but for how long?
While there’s been much attention to the de Blasio Administration’s expansion of pre-k and 3-k, after-school programs for elementary and middle school students also have substantially increased. We track the rise in enrollment and spending since 2014.
In recent years annual revisions to federal labor force data for New York City have been large and hard to anticipate. These revisions have been further complicated by some unusual recent trends in local employment. We take a closer look.
IBO presents a comprehensive analysis of the 2020 Executive Budget & Financial Plan through 2023, including our projections of spending, revenue, & budget gaps & surpluses under the Mayor’s proposals. The report also features our latest economic forecast & an analysis of the Mayor’s saving plan.
In contrast to NYC's explosive growth in new jobs since the 2008-09 recession, the average number of hours worked each week has trended downward over the past decade. We compare the trend here, which may partly explain why wage growth has been relatively modest, with other U.S. metropolitan areas.
New York State real property tax law establishes the 421-a property tax exemption for the construction of new multifamily housing in the city. This map shows where & what types of buildings receive these breaks.
The average time in city jails credited to inmates newly sentenced to state prisons from Bronx courtrooms grew to 15.7 months in 2012, about six months more than the average in the remainder of the city. Lowering this average could save NYC money.
Medicaid trends from 2008 through 2012:
+28.6% increase in the average number of service units per child +7.6% increase in the average cost per service unit
When Mayor Bloomberg presented his last budget plan in November, he noted that the city’s full-time and full-time
equivalent headcount had fallen by 15,368 since December 31, 2001. But staffing levels since the end of fiscal year 2002, tell a different story.
Twenty-one percent of the households that moved out of New York City in 2012 moved within New York State—either to the city’s suburbs or further upstate.
From June 2006 through June 2013, the number of New York City residents receiving food stamps (now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) increased by 71.1 percent, from 1.1 million to 1.9 million.
Over the years 2002-2012, about 60 percent of the more than 75,000 homeless families with children entering the city’s shelter system had either a building with rent regulated apartments (43 percent) or a New York City Housing Authority development (16 percent) listed as their last address.
The city makes an annual payment to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to support the authority’s capital program. NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign asked IBO to review the annual contributions to see if they have kept pace with inflation.
The 421-a property tax exemption is the city’s largest tax expenditure, costing more than $1 billion
in forgone taxes each year. The exemption dates back to the 1970s and is currently up for renewal
in Albany.
IBO’s review of New York City’s spending on antismoking programs finds that spending levels
have varied widely in recent years—and that after trending downward the local adult smoking rate has been increasing.
In 2009, the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs concluded a multiyear initiative to reform the Cultural Development Fund, the primary source of city funding for hundreds of arts and cultural organizations throughout the five boroughs.
About 75,000 students—or over 7 percent—of the city’s 1.1 million public school students lived in the city’s homeless shelter system or were doubled up in the home of a friend or family member at some point during school year 2013-2014.
Before the recent announcement of ThriveNYC, the de Blasio Administration’s initiatives to improve access to mental health programs for youth, adults, and seniors, the Mayor had previously launched measures to boost behavioral health programs for the city’s inmate population.
In light of two recent high-profile school rezoning controversies in which overcrowded schools serving higher income students existed near underutilized schools largely populated by students in public housing, IBO examined the distribution of students from public housing across NYC public schools.
Although students with disabilities comprised about 18 percent of the overall student body in school year 2012-2013, they made up about 30 percent of the suspended student population (defined as the population of students who have been suspended at least one time).
New York City recycles a wide variety of waste, but some materials are more likely to be recycled than others. The city has three solid waste streams: refuse, paper recycling, and metal/glass/plastic recycling. Overall, about 44 percent of recyclable material is “captured” by city recycling programs
QCEW data produced by the New York State Department of Labor shows that there are 226,900 private firms in NYC with about 3.8 million workers on their payrolls.
Using an annual sample of 770,000 personal income tax returns, IBO explored the distribution of income among New York City residents during the years 2006 through 2014.
Graffiti-Free NYC is a city program that removes graffiti at no cost to the owners of residential, commercial, or industrial buildings. Anyone can report graffiti on any property by calling 311.
The use of sick leave by municipal employees varies widely among agencies. Uniformed employees in the fire, correction, and sanitation departments tend to use sick leave at higher rates than other city workers.
NYC Transit runs the city’s subways as well as buses in Manhattan and the Bronx and is one of several agencies that comprise the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. NYC Transit employs nearly 50,000 workers and 44,000 of them are union members.
Cases of sexually transmitted diseases—chlamydia, gonorrhea, and (primary and secondary) syphilis—have reached their highest reported levels in 30 years in NYC and record levels nationwide.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is again calling for the implementation of a “mansion tax:” a surcharge on the sale of high-end residences in the city. The Mayor made this one of the featured proposals in his state of the city speech as well as in recent testimony to the state Legislature.
The number of students in the city’s public schools who lived for some part of the school year in New York’s homeless shelters during school year 2015-2016 rose by more than 4,000, or 15 percent, over the preceding year to nearly 33,000.
The number of hospitalizations at public and voluntary hospitals in New York City has been declining for some time, falling from 1.3 million hospitalizations in 2009 to 1.1 million in 2014.
Among the many spending reductions included in President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget are cuts to federal aid for lowincome individuals and families, including cash assistance, food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income.
Each school year there is considerable movement of students who transfer from one school to another or out of the city’s public school system altogether.
As of June, the Department of Education had 131,199 full-time employees. More than 119,000 served in jobs under the broad classification of pedagogues, which includes roles such as principals, assistant principals, teachers, and teaching assistants also known as paraprofessionals.
Last year NYC's five pension systems for municipal employees paid $12.9 billion in benefits to more than 332,000 retirees or their beneficiaries. While many retired city workers remain in the five boroughs, many others collect their pension checks in states and counties all around the country.
Last fiscal year, there were more than 58,000 admissions to the city’s jails. Most of these admissions were of inmates who had previously been in city custody.
New York City collects a mix of taxes that looks much more like those of a state than the typical U.S. city. Today the city relies on personal income taxes, business income taxes, taxes related to real estate transactions.
IBO has examined the shares of reports to the hotline over several years that came from mandated reporters versus those that came from the general public, such as relatives, neighbors, or anonymous callers.
In 2017 the Campaign Finance Board provided candidates running for municipal offices ranging from the Mayor to City Council with a combined $17.7 million in public funds to support their campaigns.Candidates who meet the requirements are eligible to receive matching funds.
every $
One of Mayor de Blasio’s earliest education initiatives sought to establish 100 “community schools” that provide a mix of academic and other supports to students and their families through partnerships with community-based organizations. By August 2018 there were more than 200 community schools.
An early look, examining the last three and a half years of city employee paycheck deductions for union dues, including the six months following the Janus decision.
Over three-quarters of the roughly 8,000 inmates currently held in city jails are categorized as detainees, meaning their cases have not yet been settled.
Although required under a 1991 law, the city does not publish data by precinct that tells New Yorkers how long it takes the police department to respond to a 911 call—from the initial call to the time officers arrive at the scene.
IBO has looked at assessment appeals brought to the Tax Commission over the years 2013-2017 and summarized the results by number of appeals, property tax reductions, property types, and the borough where the properties are located.
Are the city’s more than 70 public hospitals and clinics located in neighborhoods with heavy concentrations of the uninsured? IBO has mapped the location of public hospital facilities and the share of uninsured in the city’s 59 community districts.
With a growing number of English language learners and an expanding set of programs to assist them, IBO looked at shifts in placements at 1,512 traditional public schools over the four years from 2014-2015 through 2017-2018.
IBO’s Jonathan Rosenberg presents testimony to the City Council on the difficulty in tracking the reasons for delays and cost overruns on parks department capital projects—a problem that extends to projects at other agencies as well.
In 2016 the Mayor revamped how the city cleans and maintains the city’s schools—promising better services and potential savings. Has the city achieved savings?
In 2017, the city changed its primary program for helping to get cash assistance recipients into jobs. After an initial decline, are more cash assistance recipients now finding jobs?
IBO’s Sarita Subramanian discusses New York State and City education aid formulas and how they address student need at a hearing of the State Senate Committees on Education and Budget and Revenues.
Parent–teacher associations can buy a range of goods and services for their schools. But the associations can also make monetary donations to their school’s budget, as 132 did in school year 2017-2018. How much did the associations contribute and how did it vary by school type, school poverty rate?
A chart showing the change in the population of those using homeless shelters and the funding of shelters from fiscal year 2008 to a projection of fiscal year 2018.
Over the last decade, the number of city residents receiving food stamps has more than doubled, while
public assistance recipients have decreased and the number of blind and disabled New Yorkers receiving
Supplemental Security Income benefits has remained flat.
Two new federal policies tying Medicare reimbursements to quality of care took effect in October 2012. Hospitals are now penalized for excess readmissions. An additional penalty or bonus can be awarded, based on adherence to clinical standards and ratings on patient surveys.