Boost reserves, outgoing NYC comptroller advises Adams

Incoming Mayor Eric Adams should bolster New York City’s reserves to cope with two big budget variables — federal one-shot aid and pending labor negotiations, according to outgoing city Comptroller Scott Stringer.

“This is a unique opportunity to build a more vibrant, equitable New York City,” Stringer said during Tuesday’s online meeting of the business group Association for a Better New York.

Stringer, comptroller for eight years and term limited, will leave office Dec. 31 and Brooklyn City Council member Brad Lander will succeed him. Stringer ran for mayor but lost in the Democratic primary in June.

“You get it once and then it’s gone,” Stringer said of the $14 billion of federal aid, which the city used to help balance its $98.7 billion adopted budget in June. Outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio last month increased the spending plan to $103 billion.

The city’s capital program totals $147 billion. “So we’re going to have to manage our capital plan,” Stringer said.

Adams, who will take office Jan. 1, will have less than a month to present his preliminary fiscal 2023 budget to the City Council.

Stringer has repeatedly called on the city to earmark its budget cushion to at least 12% of its total spending. “This will be challenging for the next mayor,” he said. “Very little has been done in this area. This has been my big fight with City Hall and the mayor.”

Other uncertainties include the return-to-office dynamic and its effect on real estate values, and the continued record earnings on Wall Street.

Adams, the outgoing Brooklyn borough president and a retired police captain, is also staring at labor negotiations. City worker contracts have expired or will do so in the next year.

S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service rate the city’s general obligation bonds AA and Aa2, respectively. Fitch Ratings assigns AA-minus while Kroll Bond Rating Agency rates the bonds AA-plus. All four assign stable outlooks.

The city has $38.6 billion of GO debt outstanding, according to Stringer’s office. Transitional Finance Authority future tax-secured debt and building aid revenue bond debt total $41.6 billion and $8.5 billion, respectively, while Municipal Water Finance Authority holds $31.1 billion.

Asked about advice he has for Lander, Stringer said he would leave a note in his desk drawer, akin to what U.S. presidents have done at the White House.

“I take this very seriously,” he said.