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Five-Year Pocket Summary
(single copy free), 52nd Edition, October 1999
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Our portable five-year summary of financial and demographic data relating to New York City and New York State government is standard equipment for concerned citizens and public officials alike. This edition covers fiscal years 1996-2000.
Statement on Proposed Charter Revision
(single copy free), October 18, 1999
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Analysis of three proposed revisions to the New York City Charter that relate to the City's budget process. This statement focuses on the likely effect of each of the proposals, and concludes that, while well-intended, the proposed measures would be counter-productive.
The Three Cs: Crowding, Crumbling and Computers
(single copy free), September 1999
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This background, updated from the 1999 report, provides data relating to crowding (too many students in schools with too little space for them), crumbling (too many students are attending school in buildings that require major renovations) and computers (too many students do not have access to computer technology)÷three priority concerns for the 1999-2000 school year in New York City. Data shows that many steps are being taken to improve these priority concerns, but the process is slow and, in some cases, inadequate.
Transportation Infrastructure and New York’s
Competitiveness
($4.00 per copy), Volume 66, Number 2, June 29, 1999
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This report analyzes New York’s competitiveness with respect to transportation infrastructure. It focuses on the highway and mass transit systems of the New York metropolitan area, and assesses New York City’s competitiveness in relation to its domestic rivals (Chicago and Los Angeles) and its international competitors (London, Tokyo and Paris, a potential example of “best practice” for rail transit). The report also discusses three potential issues for the future: how to improve efficiency and ridership, how much to invest in repairing existing systems and how much to invest in new capacity. This document is the second in a series of reports that focuses on the city’s infrastructure.
Letter to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
April 20, 1999 (single copy free)
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This letter and corresponding memorandum provide a basis for judging the economic benefits of professional sports teams and therefore the rate of return to taxpayers on any public subsidies for stadiums.
Letter to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
April 16, 1999 (single copy free)
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In a letter to the Mayor, the CBC assesses the Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2000 and calls on the Mayor and the City Council to take the following four specific actions in order to improve the City’s long-run fiscal health: Use the surplus prudently; Increase the productivity of the workforce; Establish a comprehensive debt policy; Revise the tax reduction program. The attached memorandum presents an overview of the Mayor’s budget, and details of the recommended actions.
Letter to the State Legislature
March 5, 1999 (single copy free)
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This letter urges the State Legislature to adopt several proposals of the fiscal year 2000 Executive Budget and to modify others to promote long- run fiscal stability and balanced budgets. Among other recommendations, the letter urges the Legislature not to use the fiscal year 1999 surplus to support fiscal year 2000 and to control spending. Attached to the letter is a memorandum presenting a budget overview and details of the recommendations.
Financing Medical Care for the Uninsured in New
York State
Volume 66, Number 1; March 15, 1999 ($4.00 per copy)
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Approximately 3.1 million State residents (one of every six New Yorkers) have no health insurance. This report describes the uninsured population in New York State and the public programs that currently finance medical care for the uninsured. It also identifies the inadequacies of these programs and makes recommendations for reform.
Letter to the State Legislature
March 9, 1998 (single copy free)
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This letter urges the State Legislature to adopt several proposals of the Executive Budget and to modify others to promote long-run fiscal stability and balanced budgets. Among other recommendations, the letter urges the Legislature to use the entire surplus in a fiscally prudent manner and balance the budget by returning spending control to a top priority. Attached to the letter is a memorandum presenting a budget overview and details of the recommendations.
Letter to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani
April 1, 1998 (single copy free)
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In a letter to the Mayor, the CBC criticizes his January 1998 financial plan as an abandonment of his commitment to make services more efficient and the City more competitive. The CBC cites three problems in particular: The imprudent use of this year's surplus to pay next year's expenses; a tax program that increases taxes by $365 million annually; and, the absence of productivity initiatives. Attached to the letter is a memorandum presenting the CBC's analysis of the financial plan. The memorandum contains recommendations to improve the City's long-run fiscal health.
Testimony of Ray Horton: "Debt Affordability
Hearing"
June 3, 1998
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Testimony of Ray Horton: "City Council Hearing"
July 15, 1998
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Opportunities to Improve Municipal Revenue Collection
by Using Information Technology
Volume 65, Number 1, July 1998 ($4.00 per copy)
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Revenue-collection transactions constitute for many the primary interaction with government. Those transactions are a source of considerable public frustration because the information that citizens need about taxes, fees and fines is often difficult to obtain. This report discusses revenue-collection strategies implemented in other jurisdictions that have bettered both efficiency and quality of service to customers. It also recommends steps that the City of New York and State of New York can take to implement these proven strategies. These recommendations would make available more information electronically, make available more payment and filing options, minimize handling of forms and payments, and reduce person-to-person interactions.
The Three Cs: Crowding, Crumbling and Computers
September 1998 (single copy free)
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This background provides historical data relating to crowding (too many students in classrooms with too little space for them), crumbling (too many students are attending school in buildings that require major renovations) and computers (too many students do not have access to computer technology)-three priority concerns for the 1998-1999 school year in New York City.
CBC Pocket Summary
51st Edition, October 1998 (single copy free)
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Our portable five-year summary of financial and demographic data relating to New York City and New York State government is standard equipment for concerned citizens and public officials alike. This edition covers fiscal years 1995-1999.
Telecommunications Infrastructure and New York's
Competitiveness
Volume 65, Number 2, November 1998 ($4.00 per copy)
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In this report, the CBC considers the competitiveness of New York City, both domestically and internationally, by analyzing four categories of telecommunications infrastructure: telephone systems, wireless or circular systems, the Internet, and cable television systems. The report assesses New York City's competitiveness in relation to its domestic rivals (Chicago and Los Angeles) and its international competitors (London and Tokyo). Also addressed are possible models for future infrastructure improvements: San Francisco (for its Internet access), Hong Kong and Singapore (for their telephone systems), and Helsinki (for its wireless and other infrastructure). This document is the first in a series of three reports that focuses on the city's infrastructure. The next two will address the competitiveness of the ground and air transportation systems.
The Media and Communications Industries in New
York City: Volume 65, Number 3
December 1998 ($4.00 per copy)
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What will be the next important source of employment growth in New York City? Informed observers suggest that jobs will come from the media and communications sector. This report provides an analysis of the sector's job growth prospects in the coming years. The industries included in the sector and reviewed in the report are print media, telephone, radio and television, motion pictures and recorded music, advertising and related services, computer-related services, and news services and syndicates. Research for the report is based on compiled data on the scale and scope of media and communications activities nationally, and interviews conducted with senior executives of 23 large media and communications firms.
A Baseline Budget for the State of New York Fiscal
Year 2000: Volume 65, Number 4
December 1998 ($4.00 per copy)
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For the third year, the CBC presents New York State's only publicly available baseline budget-an estimate of future receipts and spending assuming current policies. This baseline budget reveals that the State will face a fiscal year 2000 gap of $2.5 billion. Disbursements will grow 6.4 percent from fiscal year 1999, while receipts will decline 3.4 percent. Although the economy is expected to expand modestly, receipts decline due to the loss of $1.9 billion of non-recurring receipts and the $1.0 billion impact of previously enacted tax cuts. Disbursements grow $2.4 billion as a result of increased costs of current services and almost $1.0 billion of new, phased-in programs. Absent phased-in tax cuts and spending programs, the gap would be $488 million.
Letter to the State Legislature
(single copy free)
March 18, 1997
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This letter urges the State Legislature to modify the Executive Budget and leverage the economic recovery to create a more efficient government free from financial gimmicks. Based on its Budget 2000 Project, the CBC recommends specific aggressive reforms that would save sufficient funds to balance the budget without the use of non-recurring resources. Attached to the letter is a memorandum presenting a budget overview and details of the recommendations.
The State of Municipal Services in the 1990s: The
New York City Department of Correction
($4.00 per copy)
June 1997
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This report is the first of a series assessing the performance of municipal agencies from 1990 to 1996, a period marked by fiscal austerity and retrenchment. The CBC concludes that the City improved the quality of living conditions in jails, but reduced the quality of some inmate services. Overall, the Department of Correction failed to improve efficiency despite some significant accomplishments.
The State of Municipal Services in the 1990s: Social
Services in New York City
($4.00 per copy)
August 1997
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How have the fiscal problems of this decade affected the way municipal government provides basic social services? The CBC strives to answer this question by reviewing the City's performance in the following areas: income maintenance benefits, employment services, shelter to the homeless, protection and care for abused and neglected children, and subsidized child care. The evidence points to two conclusions. First, expanded federal aid led to improvements in the number and quality of child care opportunities. Second, services other than child care have been restricted due to policy changes and new administrative practices; some of these policies and practices denied assistance to persons in need.
The State of Municipal Services in the 1990s: The
New York City Fire Department
($4.00 per copy)
August 1997
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This report assesses the New York City Fire Department's performance during fiscal years 1990 to 1996, a period of fiscal austerity in which municipal managers were challenged to protect and improve services despite declining resources. The three major findings of the analysis are: There was little improvement in the chronic underutilization of the FDNY's most valuable resource, its firefighters; emergency response times were longer; and, the chronic underutilization and declining performance are rooted in weak management that lacked a vision of a modern fire department and the strategy for implementing it.
The State of Municipal Services in the 1990s: Crowding,
Building Conditions and Staffing in New York City Public Schools
($4.00 per copy)
September 1997
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This report assesses how the New York City public schools performed under the combined pressures of scarce fiscal resources and increased enrollment encountered during fiscal years 1990 to 1996. Performance is evaluated on three vital measures of education quality—facility crowding, building conditions, and class sizes. The report also examines changes in academic achievement based on standardized test scores and rates of graduation. The CBC’s evidence points to four major conclusions: School buildings grew more crowded; class sizes increased; the condition of school buildings deteriorated; and, academic achievement among public school students remained poor.
CBC Pocket Summary
(single copy free)
50th Edition, September 1997
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Statement on the School Facility Health and Safety
Bond Act of 1997
(single copy free)
October 20, 1997
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CBC’s statement recommends that New Yorkers reject the School Facility Health and Safety Bond Act of 1997, which authorizes the State to borrow $2.4 million for school facilities and technology. The Commission points to five deficiencies in the Bond Act: 1) The distribution of funds is not specified; 2) The distribution of funds is not tied to need; 3) The new money for schools is not assured; 4) The new money will not improve City schools; and, 5) Local capital investment decisions will be distorted.
The State of Municipal Services in the 1990s: The
New York Police Department
($4.00 per copy)
Volume 64, Number 5, December 1997
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The New York Police Department has experienced significant changes during the 1990s, beginning with the hiring of 5,000 additional police officers under the Safe Streets, Safe City program, followed by substantial changes in policing policy. This report, the last in the series, examines how the combination of more money and new methods of policing affected the performance of the NYPD thus far in the 1990s. The report concludes that the NYPD has been especially successful in fighting crime. The report also criticizes the department for becoming less accountable to the public. Recognizing that recent statistics suggest the dramatic decline in crime in New York City is slowing, and that crime is rising in the subways and some precincts, the report concludes by suggesting ways in which the utilization of police officers can be made more efficient, and the crime reduction safeguarded.
A Baseline Budget for the State of New York Fiscal
Year 1999
($4.00 per copy)
Volume 64, Number 6, December 1997
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For the second year, this report presents New York State’s only publicly available baseline budget—a financial plan which estimates future receipts and spending assuming current policies. The CBC finds that disbursements will grow 3.9 percent between fiscal years 1998 and 1999, while receipts will decline 1.7 percent. As a result, estimated receipts of $34.9 billion will be insufficient to cover projected disbursements of $36.0 billion, leaving a $1.1 billion fiscal year 1999 general fund budget gap. Although the state’s economy is expected to expand modestly, receipts will decline $610 million because the underlying growth is more than offset by the loss of $1.7 billion in non-recurring or “one-shot” items used in the fiscal year 1998 budget and the $229 million impact of previously enacted tax cuts. Projected disbursement growth of $1.4 billion is due primarily to growth in spending for Medicaid, education aid, state operations and debt service.
School Buildings for the Next Century: An Affordable
Strategy for Repairing and Modernizing New York City's School Facilities
($4.00 per copy)
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To date, the solutions offered to New York City's school overcrowding problem have focused on securing additional money for constructing new schools and rebuilding old ones. However, with shrinking resources to support a capital program and the growing needs of other city infrastructure, public officials can offer only incremental amounts for new school capital projects. As long as the terms of discussion continue along these lines, with the New York City Board of Education committed to an ever-expanding system of schools and the City of New York confronted with what seems like an ever-contracting pool of resources, no true solution to the facility needs of the public school system can emerge. This report presents a new way of thinking -- that more intensive use of individual school buildings provides the framework for a comprehensive and affordable solution. The report offers strategies that would eliminate overcrowding, bring all schools up to good repair, and provide state of the art technology for every classroom.
CBC Pocket Summary
49th Edition, October 1996
(single copy free)
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Budget 2000 Project
(There are seven separate reports, individually priced at $5.00 per copy; the
entire package is available for $35.00)
December 1996
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The Budget 2000 Project recommends actions that will reduce the cost
of government in New York by between $12.8 and $19.7 billion, amounts large
enough not only to balance the budgets of the Two New Yorks, shift the local
government costs of public assistance and Medicaid to the State, and fund salary
increases for workers who assist in the restructuring, but still leave at least
$9.3 billion to improve New York's competitiveness by investing in the infrastructure,
enhancing services and cutting taxes.
Budget 2000 in Brief: This report presents a synopsis of the Project and its proposals.
Final Report of the Budget 2000 Project: This report synthesizes the results of the two-year research effort and summarizes the conclusions of five research reports.
Restructuring Government Services: This report aims at eliminating government inefficiency. It is a plan designed to reduce government spending dramatically, while sustaining and even increasing the effectiveness of public services. This report uses six principles and three approaches to develop and present a method for restructuring government services in the Two New Yorks.
Public Education: This report examines the problems confronting New York City's public schools-declining standards in quality and significant spending per pupil without a high return on investment-and recommends basic strategies for improving performance. The report touches on strategic ways to govern and manage the New York City school system, and looks at the disparities in resources among school districts within the state.
Social Welfare Spending: This report is organized into four parts. The first describes the constraints on state and local social welfare policy. The second presents New York's current efforts in this field, with particular emphasis on how the costs of these programs compare with costs elsewhere in the country. The next section presents recommendations for enhancing the cost-effectiveness of the major programs, and the final section contains estimates of the fiscal savings associated with these measures.
Tax Policy: This report highlights the CBC's proposed tax reform package, a package that would enhance the State and City's competitiveness and make their tax system work more efficiently.
Capital Investment and Debt Service: This report reveals how the Two New Yorks trail other parts of the country in competitiveness and affordable infrastructure. CBC recommends four measures to lead to wiser investment decisions for New York: Establish a sound capital planning process; rationalize borrowing practices; streamline project implementation; and, free new resources for priority investments.
A Baseline Budget for the State of New York
($4.00 per copy)
Volume 63, Number 9, December 1996
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This report presents New York State's first publicly available baseline budget -- a financial plan that estimates future receipts and spending assuming current policies. The CBC finds that disbursements will grow 5.5 percent between fiscal years 1997 and 1998, while receipts will decline 5.5 percent. As a result, estimated receipts of $31.8 billion will be insufficient to cover projected disbursements of $35.1 billion, leaving a $3.3 billion fiscal year 1998 general fund budget gap. Although the state's economy is expected to expand modestly, receipts will decline $1.8 billion because the underlying growth is more than offset by the loss of non-recurring or "one-shot" items used in the fiscal year 1997 budget and the impact of previously enacted tax cuts. Projected disbursement growth of $1.8 billion is due primarily to growth in spending for Medicaid, education aid, state operations and general state charges, and debt service.
A Profile of the Citizens Budget Commission
(single copy free)
This informative booklet describes the who, what, when, where and why of the CBC. Included are the CBC's mission statement, current officers and staff, the research program and recent publications, and a roster of the Board of Trustees
Modernizing the Municipal Employee Health Insurance
Program
Volume 62, Number 1, April 1995
($3.00 per copy)
This report examines the high cost of City health insurance. The approach includes both an historical review of the City's program and comparative analysis of the practices of other large public and private employers. The report recommends structural reforms that would yield nearly $600 million in recurring savings and still provide employees and retirees with benefits better than most of their counterparts in government and business.
Letter to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
April 20, 1995
(single copy free)
In a letter to the Mayor, the Commission calls on the City to alter its fiscal year 1996 gap-closing program to include at least $1 billion of savings from the reform of municipal employee benefits and work practices. Attached to the letter is a list of 28 specific labor-related cost-saving initiatives that, if implemented, would provide over $1 billion of savings in 1996 and $1.5 billion in 1997.
Guiding Principles for Changing Times
April 21, 1995
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $5.00)
This discussion paper, prepared for a conference concluding the first phase of the CBC's Budget 2000 Project, is devoted to an analysis of the nature of the fiscal problem confronting the "Two New Yorks" and the principles that should guide elected leaders as they craft a solution to this formidable problem. The paper begins with a review of the fiscal practices of the City and State both prior to and following the elections of Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki. It concludes by proposing a set of principles that current leaders might use to develop a popular consensus around a viable approach for establishing a sound fiscal future while at the same time improving the physical infrastructure and human capital of the Two New Yorks as they enter the next century.
Privatization and Public Hospitals:
Choosing Wisely for New York City
May 1995
(Available from the Twentieth Century Fund, 800-275-1447)
This report considers the implications of "privatizing" the largest municipal hospital system in the nation--New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). The report concludes that in this case privatization or the provision of care by private hospitals will not necessarily result in higher quality care or lower costs. More importantly, access to care for the uninsured will be significantly diminished, justifying the need for a public health care entity. The public entity proposed in the report, however, looks very different from the HHC's current structure. The HHC should be primarily a managed care plan--rather than a hospital network--with a significantly restructured governing body and financial arrangement with the City and State to ensure that it will be able to compete in a rapidly changing health care sector. The report does offer some areas where privatization of the HHC's services, such as prisoner health care, might be appropriate. Additional sections describe the HHC's historical development, facilities and services, and forces shaping its future such as the expansion of managed care.
Professional Business Services in the New York City
Economy
Volume 62, Number 2, July 1995
($5.00 per copy)
This report is the first in a series of studies that will examine the growth prospects of the New York City economy. This first study analyzes the financial services, legal services, and accounting and management consulting sectors, and combines original data obtained through detailed interviews with 25 firms in these industries with existing data from previously published analyses and surveys. The study concludes that while New York will continue to be a global center for these industries, the shape of these industries within the city will change, and the industries are unlikely to be the significant source of employment growth in the future that they have been in the past. The report includes 36 tables with longitudinal data examining employment and business activity in these sectors of the New York City economy, as well as the relationship between these sectors and the larger domestic and international markets.
Letter to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Schools Chancellor
Ramon Cortines
September 1, 1995
(single copy free)
This letter calls upon the Mayor and Chancellor to actively seek productivity improvements in the City's contract negotiations with the United Federation of Teachers. An attached memorandum aanalyzes the teachers contract and recommends seven changes that would save $250 million a year while protecting education services for the more than one million children in New York City's public schools. Additional recommendations would increase teacher effectiveness and promote innovation without adding any costs.
CBC Pocket Summary
48th Edition, October 1995
(single copy free)
Our portable five-year summary of financial and demographic data relating to New York City and New York State government is standard equipment for concerned citizens and public officials alike. This edition covers fiscal years 1992-1996.
New York's State and Local Tax System
Volume 62, Number 3, December 1995
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $5.00)
This document was prepared as a background paper for the Commission's Budget 2000 Project. It provides a comprehensive description of the state and local tax system in New York. The analysis uses a "representative taxpayer" methodology to examine the differences in tax burden on households in 11 different locations within the state. The results document significant adverse effects on firms' rates of return relative to other states and wide disparities in household tax burdens within the state. New York City is generally the area with the greatest tax burden, but an important exception is lower-income households who own a home.
This report presents the CBC's analysis of New York State's debt and capital planning processes and the impact of the recently proposed constitutional amendment on those processes. The CBC concludes that there are serious faults in the current procedures, and that the proposed amendment does not adequately address these deficiencies. Three basic guidelines for revising the constitutional amendment are presented: (1) Establish a multi-year capital planning process; (2) Ban future appropriation-backed debt; and, (3) Authorize new, tax-backed bonds, but tightly limit their amount and uses.
An Agenda for Change at the Human Resources Administration
Volume 61, Number 2, January 1994
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $4.00)
This report focuses on the four major activities of the HRAÄincome support programs, the Medicaid program, child welfare services, and child care. For each function the recent performance of the agency is assessed and recommendations for improved performance are presented. In addition to these relatively specific recommendations, the CBC presents three broad principles that should guide the HRA's management into the next century: First, the HRA's operations should be designed to promote the fundamental goal of helping its clients achieve self-sufficiency. Second, this goal can be achieved efficiently only if the HRA has a well-developed capacity for program evaluation and an information system to support such analyses. Third, the maintenance of a comprehensive information system that serves as a management tool for the entire agency requires the application of sophisticated technology.
RELEASE: "CBC Urges Legislative
Leaders to Change Governor's Budget,"
February 16, 1994 (single copy free)
The Commission released a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Ralph Marino calling for changes in Governor Mario Cuomo's proposed executive budget. The recommended new initiatives include paying the court-ordered State employee pension fund contribution over the next four, not 20, years, funding the State assumption of local Medicaid costs, and rejecting proposed State tax cuts that do not facilitate a long-run program of lowering local, not State, taxes.
An Unbeatable Combination:
More Police Strength and Lower Cost
Volume 61, Number 3, April 1994
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $2.00)
This report challenges the notion that equates a strong New York Police Department with the number of police officers it employs. Rather, the CBC suggests that NYPD strength is equated with the number of officers who are available to enforce the law by making arrests or deterring crime through their presence on patrol. The report demonstrates that approximately one-fifth of the Department's officers are assigned to perform administrative duties, and that those assigned to enforcement are available to work only 43 percent of the time. Options are presented to move police officers from desk duty to enforcement and to increase the availability of officers to perform enforcement tasks. The CBC's preferred option would save the City in excess of $50 million a year while simultaneously increasing the average daily number of officers in enforcement posts by over 500.
The Future Cost of Water in New York City
Volume 61, Number 4, May 1994
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $4.00)
New York City's water system is the most vast and complex part of its infrastructure. Its components stretch to virtually every corner of the five boroughs, and its watersheds cover approximately 2,000 square miles of New York State from the Bronx-Westchester border to points 125 miles north of downtown Manhattan. The water system also is one of the most expensive parts of the city's infrastructure to maintain and operate. Between fiscal years 1986 and 1993 the rates charged residents and businesses for water and sewer services rose 148 percent. Fiscal year 1994 is the first of a planned two-year rate freeze. However, costs continue to rise, and the escalation of water and sewer rates will resume in fiscal year 1996. The purpose of this report is to identify the causes of past rate increases and to describe the nature and magnitude of future rate increases. In addition, a review of past trends and projections for the future leads to recommendations that would lower currently projected rates by as much as 20 percent.
Statement on the Fiscal Year 1995 Executive Budget
June 2, 1994 (single copy free)
The CBC's analysis of Mayor Giuliani's fiscal year 1995 Executive Budget found that nearly half of the $2.3 billion gap-closing program is comprised of actions that are uncertain or bad fiscal policy. Based on this level of risk, the CBC recommends a major overhaul of the budget, focusing especially on ending the Mayor's exemption of police officers, firefighters and pedagogical personnel (totalling 55 percent of the City's workforce) from productivity based headcount reductions. The impact of continuing this "sacred cow" policy will be drastic reductions in the services that other agencies provide.
Poverty and Public Spending Related to Poverty in
New York City
Volume 61, Number 5, August 1994
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $4.00)
This analysis of the extent and nature of poverty in New York City found that poverty is a large and persistent problem among New YorkersÄ19 percent of New York City households fall below the poverty threshold. It also found that New Yorkers in poverty are a highly diverse group. The facts of poverty defy any singly stereotype; only about 25 percent of the poor households fit the common perception of a single-parent family eligible for federal welfare programs. The poverty population also is characterized by a significant diversity of race and ethnicity. Furthermore, poverty rates and the characteristics of the poor vary widely from borough to borough.
CBC Pocket Summary
47th Edition, October 1994
(OUT OF PRINT--copy available on request)
Statement on the Proposed October Modification
of the City of New York's Fiscal Year 1995 Budget
November 17, 1994
(single copy free)
The dire predictions of the CBC's review of Mayor Giuliani's Executive Budget were realized when the Mayor revealed in October that the budget had developed a $1.1 billion gap. The CBC's analysis of the Mayor's proposals to close this gap concluded: (1) The plan does not go far enough in dealing with the City's fiscal problems; more than $400 million in risk remains, and $519 million or nearly half of the gap-closing plan is comprised of one-shot actions; and, (2) The plan fails to take full advantage of opportunities to gain savings through productivity improvements that protect citizens from service reductions. Recommendations for productivity-based actions are included, amounting to $150 million in the police, fire and correction departments and another $110 million in other agencies.
This report finds that the Fire Department is poorly managed. The Department's most valued resource, the time of its uniformed firefighters, is often wasted: Firefighters spend the majority of their working days waiting for fires to occur. The FDNY's failure in this regard is the result of weak internal management and illogical external constraints; examples cited are the "firehouse culture," inappropriate equipment and dispatching protocols, ineffectively located firehouses, and the local law requiring the staffing of firehouses around the clock with the same number of firefighters. The Commission's recommendations include purchasing equipment that requires less staff, varying staffing among fire companies, relocating and consolidating firehouses, and inspecting one- and two-family homes.
The Performance of the New York City Department
of Correction:
Recommendations for Improvement
Volume 60, Number 2, January 1993
($2.00 per copy)
The Department of Correction was the fastest growing City agency during the 1980s. This report finds that it has made progress toward meeting its managerial challenges since 1989. The inmate population is declining for the first time in over a decade. Operating costs per inmate declined, largely because of a reduction in overtime costs. Violence in the jails was reduced, and more inmates are participating in drug treatment and work and school programs. However, the Department still does a poor job of transporting prisoners to court, and its drug treatment program fall short of the need. Three broad recommendations are made: (1) reduce the inmate population by accelerating the adjudication process, transferring State prisoners from City jails, and increasing participation in incarceration alternatives; (2) reduce the unit cost of incarceration through measures such as civilianization, absence control, and reducing correction officers' paid time for changing clothes; and, (3) improve support services to inmates.
The Performance of the New York Police Department:
Recommendations for Improvement
Volume 60, Number 3, January 1993
($2.00 per copy)
The Commission supports the concept of community policing inherent in the Police Department's Safe Streets, Safe City programs, but criticizes the pace of implementation. This report finds that foot patrol, the key to community policing, remains the NYPD's lowest enforcement priority. The Commission makes four recommendations that together would increase the average daily number of officers on foot patrol by 1,900 without increasing costs. First, civilianize administrative posts held by officers. Second, redeploy officers from miscellaneous enforcement tasks such as monitoring little league parades and block parties. Third, redeploy officers from radio patrol cars to foot patrol. Finally, increase the number of tours worked by police officers by shortening the length of their tours.
The Performance of the New York City Department
of Sanitation:
Recommendations for Improvement
Volume 60, Number 4, February 1993
($2.00 per copy)
The Commission finds that the Department of Sanitation did a poor job with respect to all of its managerial challenges. Only very recently have any promising waste reduction initiatives been launched. The recycling program has been implemented haltingly, and is proving to be very expensive. Productivity in garbage collection has plummeted since the introduction of recycling. Finally, the Solid Waste Management Plan adopted in August 1992 provides inadequate facilities for handling the city's future needs. The Commission makes three broad recommendations: (1) launch new waste reduction programs by reducing waste in municipal agencies, experimenting with quantity-based user fees, and better enforcement of regulations governing private carters; (2) privatize collection and recycling operations; and, (3) expand disposal alternatives by accelerating construction of the Brooklyn Navy Yard incinerator, building an additional resource recovery plant, and making plans for disposing the ash produced by these plants.
60th Anniversary Report 1932-1992
(single copy free)
Political Leadership in the Two New Yorks:
Fiscal Policy in the 1990s
Volume 60, Number 5, June 1993
(OUT OF PRINT--reproduction cost $3.00)
Following up on the Commission's May 1991 report, The Fiscal Problem of the Two New Yorks, this publication examines the budget policies of the governments of New York City and New York State, the "two New Yorks," during fiscal years 1991-1994. It concludes that elected officials at both levels of government have avoided making the hard choices to solve their fiscal problems, instead opting for tax increases without concurrent tax reform, one-shot actions and fiscal gimmicks. The result of these "moral failures" is a reduction of services for present New Yorkers and a passing of the cost of current operations onto future New Yorkers.
CBC Pocket Summary (single copy free)
46th Edition, October 1993
