voxelnycPress releases from the NYC Mayor & City Council about the budget are frustrating because they are meant to craft institutional narratives around the budget process. Power relations between the Council and the Mayor are adversarial, so their public statements about the budget are not consonant
Example: yesterday the Mayor released the "November Plan", which among other things is a mid-year check on tax revenues to make sure the budget agreed to with the Council in June is grounded in fiscal reality
Mayor's messaging: "Today's announcement follows Mayor Adams' long history of strong fiscal management, including delivering an on-time, balanced, and fiscally-responsible $115.9 billion Adopted Budget earlier this year, which built on the FY 2026 Executive Budget, often called the Best Budget Ever"
Council's messaging: "As forecasted by the Council, New York City’s economy continues to see steady growth. The Council’s revenue projections have been consistently substantiated by the mayoral administration’s financial plans, which is once again the case in this November Plan"
The reality is that the Mayor deliberately under-estimated tax revenues back in June when the budget was approved. A few months go by, the tax receipts are bEtTeR tHaN eXpEcTeD, and the Mayor can use the November Plan as an opportunity to apportion the extra money and claim a win
I say 'deliberately' because for the last 3 years, it's been the same script: an obviously wrong forecast of revenue in June to set up a spectacle in November when the Mayor announces good budget news after finding an extra few hundred billion dollars in the couch cushions