Higher-than-projected revenue and cost-saving initiatives have helped New York City’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget generate a projected year-end surplus of $3.9 billion that will be used to prepay expenses for the next fiscal year, helping the City balance its FY 2025 executive budget. While some of the fiscal challenges facing the City are not in its direct control, including the continued influx of asylum seekers, preparation and transparency remain paramount to navigating future uncertainty.

New York City’s tourism sector is approaching a complete recovery as visitor spending and related tax revenue have surpassed pre-pandemic levels. The City now estimates it will exceed pre-pandemic levels and welcome a record 68 million visitors by 2025. The number of visitors had reached a previous record of 66.6 million in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic devastated this thriving industry, resulting in a 66.5% decline in visitors to 22.3 million in 2020.

The MTA’s capital program for maintaining and upgrading the regional transit system faces significant delays due to potential funding shortfalls caused by the late implementation of congestion pricing. The MTA should explain how it intends to prioritize its needs so that its choices do not result in disinvestment in the system, noting that bringing riders back would be one of the most direct routes for the MTA to reduce its debt burden over the long term.

New York City’s full-time government workforce is expected to increase for the first-time year-over-year since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, high turnover and vacancy rates exist at several City agencies. The City should continue efforts to increase and expedite hiring where needed to ensure critical agencies and departments can meet demands and provide quality services to residents.

The majority of New York City’s capital projects are over their initial budgets and behind schedule, suggesting better monitoring and reporting could lead to adjustments to improve capital project delivery. Recent reforms to the City’s capital planning process have focused on improving the delivery of projects, but little detail is available in public documentation about what is fueling these cost and schedule overruns. With closer, more uniform monitoring of capital projects, the City can better identify where additional improvement is needed.