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Five Fast Facts about the NYPD’s Adopted FY 2022 Budget

July 15, 2021

The more than $10 billion in planned annual spending on the New York Police Department (NYPD) continues to garner significant attention. New York City’s recently adopted Fiscal Year 2022 Budget has five important takeaways.

1. Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Cuts Totaled $322 Million

Compared to the Fiscal Year 2021 Executive Budget, the actual fiscal year 2021 budget cut to NYPD’s City-funded expenditures was $322 million, less than the $474 million originally projected.1 Total NYPD City-funded spending—including the agency operating budget and central costs for fringe benefits, pensions, and debt service—is budgeted at $9.9 billion in fiscal year 2021, a 3.1 percent decline from fiscal year 2020 spending of $10.2 billion.

2. Fiscal Year 2021 Overtime Reached $474 Million, 77 Percent Over Budget

The NYPD fell short of the City’s ambitious plan to reduce overtime from $837 million in fiscal year 2020 to $268 million in fiscal year 2021. Fiscal year 2021 overtime expenditures will be $474 million, $206 million or 77 percent over budget.2

3. City Reverses Course with $465 Million Budget Increase in Fiscal Year 2022

After a $317 million spending decrease from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2021, the budget is again poised to grow, due mainly to $401 million increase in central costs, and a $63 million increase in agency operating spending.3 The Adopted Budget for fiscal year 2022 sets the City-funded NYPD spending, including agency and central expenditures, at $10.4 billion, a spending increase of $465 million (4.7 percent) against fiscal year 2021.4

4. Transfer of School Safety Officers Planned for Fiscal Year 2023

In June 2020, Mayor de Blasio announced that School Safety Officers would be moved from the NYPD to the Department of Education (DOE) by the end of fiscal year 2022. Progress implementing this change has been slow and has not been reflected in budget documents until this month.5 In fiscal year 2023, the City anticipates shifting about 5,300 civilian personnel and about $306 million in intra-city revenue from the NYPD to the DOE.6 This shift, however, will not affect the NYPD’s total City-funded budget because DOE already pays for most school safety expenses via an intra-city transfer.7

5. City Already Transferred Two Smaller Units from NYPD; School Crossing Guard Transfer Still Not in the Budget

Two other functions already have been transferred out of the NYPD: the Homeless Unit ($4.5 million in fiscal year 2021) to the Department of Homeless Services and the Crime Victim Assistance Program ($9.5 million in fiscal year 2021) to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. The transfer of School Crossing Guards ($42.4 million in fiscal year 2021) from the NYPD to the Department of Transportation, which also was announced during last year’s budget adoption, still is not included in the budget.8

By Adrian Pietrzak

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Five Fast Facts about the NYPD’s Adopted FY 2022 Budget

Footnotes

  1. Based on the Fiscal Year 2022 Adopted Budget financial plan, which is the current modified budget for fiscal year 2021, as of June 30, 2021. Actual expenditures will not be available until the City Comptroller releases the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, due by the end of October. City of New York, Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2022 Adopted Budget Financial Plan (July 1, 2021), https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/omb/downloads/pdf/adopt21-fp.pdf; and Fiscal Year 2022 Executive Budget Message of the Mayor (April 26, 2021), https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/omb/downloads/pdf/mm4-21.pdf.
  2. Based on the most recent year to date spending, as of July 7, 2021. Actual expenditures will not be available until the City Comptroller releases the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, due by the end of October. . See: Office of the New York City Comptroller, “Checkbook NYC Data Feeds” (accessed July 7, 2021), Police Department Budget for Fiscal Year 2021.
  3. Budget reductions of $322 million compare the final budget to the April 2020 Executive Budget planned levels for that year. Actual expense reductions of $317 million are measured against fiscal year 2020 actual spending.
  4. The NYPD City-funds budget increases despite an apparent decline in the all-funds operating budget because State, federal, and other categorical grants are not fully recognized at the beginning of the fiscal year and only willy be included in the budget as these funds are realized.
  5. Alex Zimmerman, “De Blasio’s pledge to remove NYPD control of school safety shows little signs of progress. Eric Adams may decide the plan’s fate,” Chalkbeat New York (July 7, 2021), https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/7/7/22567407/nypd-doe-school-safety-transition-eric-adams
  6. School safety accounts for an additional $115 million paid centrally for fringe benefits, currently paid for via intra-city transfers to the Miscellaneous budget, which will be reflected in DOE budget.
  7. Intra-city transfers are when one agency “buys” a service from another. In this instance, the DOE is buying school safety services for $306 million from the NYPD. The City’s budget reflects the expenditure in the agency purchasing it, which is this case, is the DOE. While the school safety is also reflected in the NYPD budget, this is subtracted when from the total budget to avoid double counting the expenditure at both agencies.  
  8. City of New York, Office of the Mayor, “In the Face of an Economic Crisis, Mayor de Blasio Announces Budget that Prioritizes Safety, Police Reform, Youth Services, and Communities of Color” (press release, June 30, 2020), https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/487-20/in-face-an-economic-crisis-mayor-de-blasio-budget-prioritizes-safety-police.