Banana stand

Lol the actual city accountants vs. "The City Council Finance Division"

One agency is beholden to the Mayor (OMB) and the other isn't. I wouldn't consider one more trustworthy than the other. But I definitely wouldn't consider OMB to be a neutral party of professionals. They were told by Adams to produce what he wanted, I assure you.

The key quote to me is this "the city council finance division projects the city will bring in $5.2 billion more in revenue over fiscal years 2023 and 2024 combined than OMB projections."

Just make up numbers and demand to spend the made up numbers now.

"$102.7 billion preliminary budget for fiscal year 2024."

That's more than the entire GDP of some countries! We really should be doing more to control costs and ensure the money is being used wisely.

Not to mention it’s $32 billion higher than the city’s spending in De Blasio’s first term.

Which countries? What's their population? How do they rank on quality of life?

> Of course, the city always budgets conservatively – even during the days of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, where budgets grew in apparent relation to the mayor’s own towering height.

😂😂😂

You can save about 10 million by not paying the councilmen and women.

Maybe another 5 million by eliminating the office of the Public Advocate.

Most NYC government employees are non-partisan and are not affiliated with a Mayor. Unless you got evidence that Adams got them to cook the books for him, this is no different than the Republican Deep State garbage.

If you rank NYC's budget by national budgets worldwide, we'd rank 41st in expenditures ahead of the Philippines. And if you account for the fact that the NYC government doesn't have to provide for its own defense or the biggest two parts of social spending (Social Security and Medicare), what we get for that money starts looking pretty bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_budget

City Council Finance's projections and math is available online. They have public hearings happening now to understand the issue, and listen to the public testify about it. They also invite the independent budget office and others to discuss.

Is it that you just want a smaller budget due to fiscal conservatism? Or do you like have an axe to grind with the City Council Finance Division?

https://council.nyc.gov/budget/fy2023/

Something to factor in though is cost of living. In a concentrated area condensed to a few hundred square miles, it's a bit harder to say that costs can be spread thinner across more areas where real estate and land don't comparatively much cheaper, or more available. NY States' budget is roughly $200 billion, double NYC's but for the whole state. Makes sense given that there is way more land, and thus not as expensive for a dollar to serve a person whose relative needs and subsidy with tax dollars are cheaper to effect.

I have a generally low opinion of the City Council. I actually knew one of them back in the day and can make 1/51 of that judgment from direct personal interactions!

I hold the city's various agencies generally in higher esteem than the Council.

So I figure the bureaucracy's team is probably a bit better than the Council's team, but more importantly, less likely to manipulate things in favor of the Mayor than the Council's team would be likely to manipulate things in favor of the Council.

> Is it that you just want a smaller budget due to fiscal conservatism?

The number under discussion is an estimate of a future fact - it is better to have a more accurate estimate.

The OMB projections are also made up…

I agree. I find IBO's estimates at yesterday's hearing to be most accurate, and and they said that while this year could tolerate more spending without issues, in two years it would be an issue with current estimates because of the risk of recession and higher interest rates on debt.

Just saying that Council Finance is actually pretty conservative based on my interactions, they're just more transparent than the Mayor's office because their documents have to be written to any council member's understanding. Whereas OMB really is wonky. Not bad! I respect OMB staff I've worked with. Just, not inherently transparent.

The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget is very much affiliated with the Mayor.

And their staff of 400 analysts, economists and accountants doesn't change over between Mayors. It's like saying the Congressional Budget Office is affiliated with whomever the Senate Leader or Speaker of the House is, when the Office actually just does the same work regardless of who is in power.

The cameras will fine drivers in their sleep

Let me get this straight: NYS spends $200 Billion a year and NYC spends $100 billion a year and they can’t fix anything in the city? No hope for this place.