The NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) is critical to ensuring the safety of the city’s buildings and construction, supporting development through efficient permitting and plan review, and enforcing compliance with building and zoning codes.   

CBC’s new brief, 7 Facts About the NYC Department of Buildings, presents information key to understanding DOB—its spending, revenue, staffing, and selected performance metrics. Between fiscal years 2014 and 2022, the DOB’s budget increased 9.0 percent annually, twice the Citywide annual 4.5 percent increase. Yet, the agency’s vacancy rate is high—18 percent in January 2023. DOB should prioritize recruitment and retention, especially for hard-to-fill roles, to ensure it fulfills its responsibilities. 

CBC found that: 

1. DOB’s fiscal year 2023 budget is $322 million—comprised of its $239 million operating budget and $83 million in centrally allocated costs; 
2. Including pandemic-related spending, DOB spending doubled between fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2022, growing twice as fast as the total City spending; 
3. Most of DOB expenditures are for construction and building inspections. While spending for inspections increased, their share of DOB’s budget decreased from 36 percent to 26 percent between fiscal years 2014 and 2022; 
4. DOB’s revenue averaged $317 million annually between fiscal years 2014 and 2022; 
5. Other than personal service (OTPS) spending grew 17 percent annually, more than twice as fast as personal service (PS); 
6. The City’s Vacancy Reduction Initiative decreased DOB’s vacancies 21 percent for fiscal year 2023 and 33 percent for fiscal year 2024. In January 2023, DOB had 334 vacant full-time positions out of 1,884 authorized full-time positions; and 
7. Performance has declined in several critical areas: the number of construction inspections performed decreased and wait times for certain plan reviews increased. The share of professionally certified jobs that were audited decreased, though the share of those audited that had revocations was at or above 30 percent. 

Read the full brief and analysis here.