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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Budget transparency and unit of appropriation (UA) issues
4:37:20
ยท
71 sec
The IBO emphasizes the importance of budget transparency and highlights issues with the current unit of appropriation (UA) structure in New York City's budget. The lack of granularity in UAs hinders effective oversight and public discourse.
- Section 100C of the charter requires detailed UAs for each program or activity
- Current UA structure often combines multiple programs or activities, making it difficult to track specific budgets
- Examples include the Department of Aging combining multiple programs into one UA and the NYPD's overly broad operations UA
- IBO suggests a comprehensive revision of the UA approach to balance accountability, transparency, and fiscal management
Louisa Chafee
4:37:20
The council has a useful tool.
4:37:22
Section 100C of the charter says the budget is supposed to be presented with quote particular program purpose activity or institution having its own unique unit of appropriation.
4:37:34
To give two examples, today the Department of Aging lumps together a single UA, home delivered meals, home care, and older adult centers, so it's impossible to know which program is which.
4:37:47
And perhaps my favorite, the police department makes the budgets of 123 police precincts, all borough wide offices, and detectives, narcotics, and many other functions into a single operations UA, which contains one quarter of NYPD's six point four billion dollar budget.
4:38:08
With the overly broad UAs, what we lose is informed public discourse and more effective oversight.
4:38:13
In recent years, the council has added UAs, and one way to improve the structure would be to study each agency and their UAs and create a comprehensively revised UA approach, balancing accountability with transparency and fiscal management.