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QUESTION
Why does the New York City Comptroller's office have a different financial outlook from the City Council's projections?
4:35:33
·
3 min
The New York City Comptroller's office and the City Council have differing financial projections due to varying views on job growth and revenue, along with accounting for unbudgeted costs.
- The Comptroller's office is cautious about assuming a return to pre-pandemic job growth trends, particularly in high-paying sectors.
- High costs of living in the city limit the potential for both job and resident growth, affecting long-term financial projections.
- Additional projected tech revenues do not match the Council's estimates, partly due to less robust job growth.
- Accounting for under-budgeted costs, like the reduction in rental assistance funding, contributes to the identified budget gaps for 2025.
- The conversation includes concerns about disinvestment in education and its impact on connecting New Yorkers to better-paying jobs.
Lincoln Restler
4:35:33
And then secondly, I just want to ask and forgive me if you have had a chance to review what the council put out yesterday in terms of kind of our updated financial forecasting But my understanding is that the council anticipated that we believe there's actually an additional $3,000,000,000 or so in revenue over this fiscal year fiscal year to support our needs.
4:35:56
And your findings were almost in reverse that you found approximately a $3,000,000,000 gap for next year, slightly small surplus for this year.
4:36:07
Could you just help us if you can understand the differences in your projections versus the council's projections and and what we're looking at.
Brad Lander
4:36:14
Fortunately, I asked this question of the team on last
Shekar Krishnan
4:36:17
last night.
Brad Lander
4:36:18
So I think they
Francesco Brindisi
4:36:20
6 seconds.
Brad Lander
4:36:20
But that's where you can you
Rita Joseph
4:36:21
can go.
Brad Lander
4:36:22
That's Lincoln's time is up, but Francesco's time.
Chi Ossé
4:36:25
There we go.
4:36:25
Ready for Franchesca.
Francesco Brindisi
4:36:26
Thank you.
4:36:27
I'll I'll be brief.
Rita Joseph
4:36:28
Good to
Lincoln Restler
4:36:28
see you, Franchesca.
Francesco Brindisi
4:36:29
Hi.
4:36:29
How are you?
4:36:31
So a couple of things.
4:36:33
We also have additional tech revenues relative to OMV, not to the extent that the Council Finance Economies have an estimated or IPO is estimated.
4:36:41
And I think our view there is that We have seen not as very strong growth in high paying jobs in the city and a lot of growth in low paying jobs as a matter of fact and not a very evident return to the pre pandemic trend when we were actually adding 80,000 jobs a year.
4:37:00
So both of the canceled finance and IPO's forecasts are predicated on returning to that pre pandemic trend.
4:37:05
And that's not entirely clear to us given that the high paying job finance and tech have headwinds.
4:37:12
So that's one reason why we have a different outlook.
4:37:16
The other one is that in order to have jobs and residents, the city is a very unaffordable place.
4:37:23
Right?
4:37:24
So that sort of like gives a constraint over the longer term.
4:37:27
Right?
4:37:27
So that's the reason for the outlook being more moderate.
4:37:31
So that's what our tax revenues are consistent with that economic view.
4:37:35
On the spending side, I think we are accounting for a lot of the costs that are accounting for that under budgeting that takes place, the cost that we know will be.
4:37:47
Incurred, but they're not in the budget like the reduction of rental assistance from a $100,000,000, 150,000,000 to a small fraction of that, right?
4:37:59
So adding all those up.
4:38:01
We come up with those gaps in 2025.
4:38:05
So it's not a matter just of the tax revenue.
4:38:08
It's a matter of the under budgeting as well.
Lincoln Restler
4:38:11
That's very helpful.
4:38:12
I I, you know, I just echo an element of the controller's testimony.
4:38:18
You know, I think we are failing New Yorkers by our disinvestment in CUNY And Community Colleges.
4:38:23
And if we wanna shift and better connect New Yorkers to better paying jobs that allow them to sustain and support a family, then cutting 16% of the operating expenses that the city gives to CUNY over the course of mayor Adams tenure is the wrong way do it and has the opposite effect.
4:38:39
So thank you for the clarification and look forward to continuing the conversation.