PRELIMINARY BUDGET FOCUS: Under the Governor’s budget plan, state aid to NYC schools would grow next year. But the outlook for school aid is complicated by an influx of federal pandemic school aid and the Governor’s proposed restructuring and reductions of school support from Albany.
NYC is set to receive $7.3b in federal education aid from the 2 most recent stimulus acts, the CRRSA & ARPA. IBO details their planned uses and examines how much is budgeted for initiatives that will likely continue after federal funding stops.
The city’s public hospital system, NYC Health + Hospitals, was regaining fiscal stability. Then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived. There may be enough federal aid to help H+H recover, at least in the near term. How much can the system expect to receive and what are the fiscal challenges ahead?
The New York City Housing Authority regularly passes its five-year operating budget with funding gaps, which in last year’s plan exceeded $300 million in most years. IBO examines changes in NYCHA’s budget, including the subsidies the city provides to NYCHA, and looks at challenges ahead.
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.
Check out IBO’s newest analysis focusing on the fiscal impact of Street Vending. This analysis finds that lifting the caps on legal street vending would yield a positive fiscal impact, depending on how many vendors become permitted.
IBO presents its annual fiscal outlook report, featuring our latest local economic forecast along with our estimates of revenue and spending under the financial plan released by the Mayor last month.
IBO presents our latest economic forecast for the city along with our projections of revenues and expenditures under the Mayor’s November financial plan. We forecast key economic indicators, such as the jobs recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, and estimate budget gaps and surpluses
The Mayor’s latest budget plan adds $23 million over the years 2020-2023 for his LeadFreeNYC initiative, and brings the total amount of funds budgeted for the program to $39 million. But that still leaves the program’s funding well short of the original commitment.
The city has committed more than $4 billion over 10 years that can be used to meet the terms of the settlement with federal officials for repairs at public housing developments across the city. Yet the full cost of the settlement is unclear, and may require additional city funds.
The Governor’s budget proposes that New York City—and just New York City—pay 10 percent of annual Family Assistance costs, a program that has been funded completely with federal dollars in the past.
Foundation Aid is the largest form of state support for the city’s schools. The budget proposals from the Governor and the Legislature remain far apart, not just in dollar amount but in how some of the funding can be used.
Under the Mayor’s plan, the budget for summer jobs for youth would increase by more than $30 million, but the number of slots for participants would fall.
The fiscal condition of the city’s public hospitals may be looking better than in the recent past, but a prognosis of modest shortfalls remains for the years ahead.
We project that NYC tax revenue will grow from $61.0 billion this year to nearly $70.6 billion in 2023. Get the details behind the numbers in our projections for individual taxes.
In a 2015 plea agreement, BNP Paribas bank paid $8.9 billion in criminal penalties, including nearly $900 million to the city. Much of those funds remain unused.
At the request of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, IBO analyzed City Council Schedule C funding levels in the past six years to assess allocations for food. The analysis provides information on trends in grants to food initiatives, food-adjacent initiatives, and all food-related initiatives.
REPORT: With hunger and food insecurity rising amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the de Blasio Administration launched the Grab & Go food program at many city schools, where anyone in need could pick up free meals. But were the sites located in the areas with the greatest economic need?
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: NYC Health + Hospitals still faces considerable fiscal hurdles, with more than $1 billion in hoped for federal and state aid still not approved and efforts lagging to shift more of the public hospital system's health care to outpatient services. And the potential gutting of the federal Affordable Care Act would likely mean the city hospitals would be providing more unreimbursed care for an increasing number of uninsured patients.
In this brief, IBO examines the funding level for staff at the Civilian Complaint Review Board—the city agency charged with investigating police misconduct—and how it compares with City Charter mandated levels. We also examine how the time it takes for the review board to complete its investigations
In 2016, the Mayor and City Council provided the libraries with a substantial hike in their subsidies with the aim of increasing public access and use of the more than 200 library branches across the five boroughs. How well have those goals been met?
Interested in learning more about budget cuts to City programs like libraries? Explore our in-depth analysis of the Mayor's FY2025 PEGs and their impact on programs, services, and City functions. Check it out now.
As the city relaunches curbside organics collection after a yearlong suspension due to Covid budget cuts. IBO examines the cost of the city’s program and models what's needed to make the program as fiscally sustainable as it is environmentally.
The Department of Transportation repairs and maintains the city’s streets. To fulfill this task, the department performs an ongoing street quality assessment and rates sections of every street in the city on an 18-month rolling basis on a scale from 1 to 10.
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: Questioning local efforts, Governor Cuomo's budget plan proposes new oversight and administrative burdens for the city's homeless services. But the de Blasio Administration and City Council have already expanded key outreach and prevention programs-for which the state provides no support.
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: The Governor's executive budget provides less school aid than expected by the de Blasio Administration in its preliminary budget, shifts some charter school costs to the city, and seeks to increase state oversight of the city's school spending
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: The Governor's budget includes three changes that would reduce the amount of state funding that goes to the city's Administration for Children's Services. While one change is applicable statewide, the two other changes are aimed only at New York City.
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: Governor Cuomo's executive budget includes two proposals that would substantially reduce state aid for the city's Administration for Children's Services and a third proposal that excludes the city from funding for the state's Raise the Age juvenile justice initiative
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: Although the Governor’s budget would increase state aid for schools by over $800 million, the city’s share is less than the Mayor had expected in the Preliminary Budget for 2021.
Continuing a pattern of cost shifts in recent years, the Governor has proposed a 5 percent cut in state aid for human services programs. See how the reductions would affect aid to the city.
Since the 2001-2002 school year, there have been a dramatic increase in graduating students in high school. This article provides information and statistics of those in the Class of 2009 and how they relate to the percentages of dropouts and graduates. It also invesitgates what may be the cause of this increase in graduation rates.
This report details New York State's growth in Medicaid enrollment and spending throughout the 2000 to 2012 period. It analyzes New York City's involvement in this growth and the overall factors behind Medicaid growth in the state.
IBO’s fiscal outlook report presents our latest economic forecast for the city along with our projections of revenues and expenditures under the Mayor’s November financial plan.
Over the past five years, total federal aid to New York City has declined from $7.9 billion in 2011 to just under $7.0 billion in 2015, a decrease of roughly $933 million, or nearly 12 percent. The change was mainly due to the drop in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus dollars.
The FDNY coordinates ambulance response to the about one million medical emergencies reported over the 911 system in the city each year. About a quarter of those emergencies are ALS, incidents involving heart attacks and other very serious conditions. IBO analyzes response times of these units.
In September 2012, New York City launched a set of juvenile justice initiatives that included the expansion of alternative-to-placement programs for youth ages 7-15 found by Family Court to be juvenile delinquents.
The number of inmates in New York State prisons reached a peak of over 71,000 as the 1990s turned to the 2000s, and then fell to 51,743 in January 2016.
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.
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.
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.
For many years, the city’s capital plans, which outline when funds for capital projects will be committed, have been substantially front-loaded with much of the funds slotted for the first year of each four-year plan—even though it was unlikely funds could or would be committed in that timeframe.
In April 2017 the city’s Human Resources Administration implemented new employment services contracts for cash assistance recipients who are able to work.
NYC BY THE NUMBERS: The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a surge in unemployment and an increase in government assistance, including cash assistance grants. How much have New York city’s cash assistance rolls grown in recent months?
This has been a difficult school year, perhaps most difficult for students living in neighborhoods hardest hit by Covid. At the request of WNYC we have looked at attendance figures for schools, with a focus on schools in these hard-hit neighborhoods.
This New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) fiscal brief addresses the issue of overcrowding in New York City schools, particularly in high schools. Included are various data tables and graphs on the issue, as well as recommendations on how to combat this issue to alleviate the pressure put on a small number of schools.
The Department of Education's 2005-2009 five year capital plan intended to add more seats and repair and upgrade school buildings. IBO invesitgates the costs of the plan as it changes.
New York City By the Numbers: IBO has updated the fiscal history section of our website with new data on New Yorkers’ income and personal income tax liability. The new data, the most recent available, covers the 2019 tax year. See some highlights from our updated tables.
In a series of charts and graphs IBO presents some key findings from the data, in particular, how in 2020—the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic—total income reported by full-year New York City residents increased compared with 2019., along with 2020 PIT tables.
This report details the trends in the service levels and costs for the home care of senior citizens. Home care services are provided by private agencies under contract with the city and helps seniors stay in familiar surroundings, avoiding emotional disruption and the financial burden of long-term nursing home care.
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: Over the past year, shifts in the composition of the city’s homeless population, increased spending on rental assistance, and pandemic-related aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have altered the city’s costs for providing shelter for the homeless.
The number of adults and families in the city's homeless shelters and the budget for the Department of Homeless Services have both reached record levels this fiscal year. Does the Mayor's preliminary budget for next year include adequate funding for the shelter system?
The city’s public housing authority has to deal with removing lead paint, fixing broken elevators, a backlog of thousands of other repairs—and growing budget gaps. See the details on the housing authority’s fiscal challenges.
FOCUS ON THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET: With the addition of more capital funding, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is expanding its Our Space program to build housing for New Yorkers currently living in the city's homeless shelters.
FOCUS ON THE EXECUTIVE BUDGET: Capital funding for affordable housing preservation and development programs has been shifted and, in some instances, shrunk in the Mayor’s latest budget plan.
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.
Nearly 3 dozen arts and cultural organizations are located on city-owned property and receive operating subsidies. These organizations, known as the Cultural Institutions Group, vary widely in attendance and budget levels.. How dependent are these institutes on their city subsidies?
NYC BY THE NUMBERS: Last year, the Mayor suspended the sanitation department’s organics collection program because of budget constraints and too many partially filled trucks. But participation varied throughout the city.
Earlier we reported that 132 New York City parent-teacher associations granted nearly $13 million to their school budgets in school year 2017-2018. Now we answer the question: how were the funds spent?
The Covid-19 pandemic caused sharper drops in employment in New York City than elsewhere in the nation – and the jobs recovery has been slower here. IBO examines how the city’s employment losses and recovery differ from the rest of the nation’s.
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.
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.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspects public housing developments across the country to ensure that they are safe, sanitary, and in good repair.
The amount of time an individual must spend in state prison is reduced by the period of time spent in a local jail because they were denied bail or unable to post bail while awaiting trial and then as their case is heard in court.
In a series of charts and graphs, IBO compares enrollment changes during the first full school year impacted by the pandemic (20-21) with the second school year that just ended (21-22). We explore the different trends among the city’s traditional public schools and its charter schools.
How have the shares of New York City 3- and 4-year olds enrolled in public preschool, private preschool, and not enrolled at all changed since the de Blasio Administration rolled out its universal preschool programs?
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.
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.
Sidewalk sheds can feel as ubiquitous on NYC streets as hurried commuters & wandering tourists. They provide an important function protecting pedestrians from falling building debris, but they also block light & crowd sidewalks. IBO examines how the number of sidewalk sheds changed over times.
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
In this report , IBO examines Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter spending from 2013 through 2022 to show how state and federal decisions, as well as shifts in homeless populations over time, have impacted the funding of the city’s shelters over the past decade.
The ways New Yorkers use their local public libraries has changed. Branch libraries in all three systems have become broader community resources rather than repositories of books and information.
High expectations: if it can overcome initial growing pains, the NYC legal cannabis market could bring in $1.2 billion in taxable tales and $47 million in annual revenue for the city
Citywide, the average high school student’s commute to school—by subway, bus, or foot—in school year 2011-2012 was estimated to take 32 minutes. In comparison, the commutes for city residents to jobs in the five boroughs averaged 39 minutes in 2012.
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.