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TESTIMONY
Testimony by Andrew Rein, President of the Citizens Budget Commission, on resident feedback, fiscal reserves, and budget accuracy
1:35:05
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4 min
Andrew Rein, President of the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), proposes three charter amendments to improve city governance and fiscal health. He recommends mandating a regular, statistically valid resident feedback survey to measure service satisfaction, requiring formulaic rules for the rainy day fund be set in local law (with the requirement embedded in the charter), and enhancing budget transparency by requiring explanations for significant estimate changes or divergences from comptroller projections, citing current, unprecedented underbudgeting practices.
- Mandate a regular resident feedback survey for customer satisfaction data, complementing the MMR.
- Require (via charter) the creation of specific formulas (in local law) governing rainy day fund usage.
- Mandate explanations for significant budget estimate fluctuations or deviations from comptroller forecasts to improve accuracy and transparency.
Andrew Rein
1:35:05
Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to present our recommendations.
1:35:08
I'm Andrew Ryan, president of the Citizens Budget Commission.
1:35:12
I also wanna thank all of you for your service on this commission and, frankly, knowing your lifetimes of service to New Yorkers.
1:35:19
Tonight, I present three charter changes that would improve how city government serves current and future New Yorkers.
1:35:25
Our companion report provides more details and draft charter language.
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First, the charter should require a resident feedback survey that represents all New Yorkers.
1:35:34
The city should conduct and publish a statistically valid resident feedback survey at least every five years with results valid at the community board level and disaggregated by key demographic groups.
1:35:45
The mayor's management report includes many indicators about what the city produces.
1:35:49
While the MMR's indicators should be improved by including more efficiency, quality, and outcome metrics, the MMR lacks an entire category of critical data, and that is customer feedback.
1:36:00
To serve New Yorkers well and improve city agency management, the city needs feedback straight from New Yorkers.
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We are the customers of city government.
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Everyone deserves a voice, and this survey would ensure that that voice is not dependent on having power or money.
1:36:15
The last commission considered this proposal, and we encourage you to move it to the vote.
1:36:20
Second, the sharp the charge should require the city to create rainy day fund deposit withdrawal and balance forms.
1:36:27
The 2,019 wisely helped the city create a true rainy day fund.
1:36:33
To ensure this fund best serves New Yorkers, the charter should require the city to deposit money into the rainy day fund when the economy is growing and only use that money as intended to protect New Yorkers from dramatic cuts during a recession or short term emergency.
1:36:49
We and others have extensively analyzed how best to structure the fund.
1:36:53
The charter should set the framework and then require the specifics for formula driven deposits and proper use of the fund be detailed in local law.
1:37:02
Embedding this requirement in the charter will ensure New Yorker's future is better protected rather than being exposed to greater than reasonable risks that often result from shorter term political desires.
1:37:13
Third, the charter should be changed to improve the accuracy of financial plan estimates, and I will note that this year is the fiftieth anniversary of New York City's fiscal crisis.
1:37:22
And what better time to improve the integrity integrity of the budget than this year?
1:37:26
The charter already requires revenue and expenditure estimates to be, quote, reasonable and appropriate.
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Suddenly, this is not currently the case.
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The charter requirement needs to be most.
1:37:39
The city has increasingly underbudgeted for planned expenses, reaching unprecedented levels.
1:37:45
This distorts the city's fiscal picture and the accuracy of the financial plan that is the very foundation of budget decisions.
1:37:52
Just this year, for example, after budget adoption, the city had to add $3,600,000,000 to support current year spending, not for unanticipated costs, but for expense that we all knew would be needed when the budget was adopted.
1:38:05
It just wasn't there.
1:38:07
Furthermore, the fiscal year twenty twenty six preliminary budget is $4,000,000,000 short of what is needed to provide many of the planned services, though it may still over budget for migrants.
1:38:17
Just think
Bernard O'Brien
1:38:18
about this example in a
Andrew Rein
1:38:19
in an area that you guys are all concerned about in terms of Gaza.
1:38:23
The city will spend $1,100,000,000 this year on city theft housing vouchers.
1:38:28
Yet, it's only budgeting 519,000,000 next year.
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That's less than half we're spending this year.
1:38:34
That's not a reasonable and appropriate budget.
1:38:37
I mean, I would
Ben Weinberg
1:38:38
call it something else that we can.
Andrew Rein
1:38:41
To ground the city budget process and accurate revenue and expense estimates, the charter should be required should require detailed explanation of the causes and significant changes in two circumstances.
1:38:51
One, when tax revenues or major spending, expenditures are projected to change up or down more than 10%.
1:38:58
Just provide an explanation.
1:39:00
The other example would the other time would be when executive expense estimates vary more than 20% from either those by the city controller or those by the state controller.
1:39:09
Just provide the sunshine to straighten close to the requirement that
Ben Weinberg
1:39:13
currently exists.
1:39:13
I'm happy to
Andrew Rein
1:39:14
answer any questions now or later.
1:39:15
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here tonight.