Summary and Findings

Over $600 million in savings has been identified by District Council 37’s leadership, members and staff to address the $5 billion budget gap and labor’s savings contributions.

In our white paper report on DC 37 Recommendations for Fiscal Year 2003 Savings for the New York City Budget*, the city’s largest public employee union explains ‘We Can Do the Work: How the City Can Save Over $600 Million Without Cutting Services.’

Following are highlights of our findings in six areas. The first four areas identified below are initiatives that could be implemented in the short-term (i.e., 6 to 12 months):

Civilianization. We estimate that an aggressive civilianization plan for the NYPD would render the City a savings of well over $127 million in FY 2003, by building on the civilianization plan outlined in the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget for FY 2003, for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the City Council’s Civilianization projections outlined in the City Council’s Alternative Financial Plan. We will be issuing future reports on additional savings that could be realized in other uniform agencies including the Corrections Department, Fire Department and Sanitation Department.
Contracting-in. A minimum of $121 million has been identified in savings for FY 2003 for services that can be performed in-house at a lower cost and more efficiently by City personnel.
Eliminating Waste and "Work Smarter" Initiatives. A minimum of $30 million could be saved by establishing more efficient ways of providing City services to the public. Finally, a long-term administrative recommendation for re-instituting a risk management program for the Workers’ Compensation system affecting City employees that yields savings of $20 million is outlined in this report.
Revenue Enhancement. Additional revenues of $320 million have been identified by increasing existing revenue streams.

In addition, we propose:

An Economic Development & Job Creation Policy. An economic development plan expanded from Lower Manhattan throughout all boroughs could generate long-term savings to the City by creating an environment that is both worker friendly and business friendly. The City could implement a plan, as it has done with past subsidies for businesses, to create jobs and improve the City’s economy. This issue is of particular significance for the thousands of individuals who will reach their Temporary Assistance for the Needy Families (TANF) five-year limit and are competing for decent paying jobs with benefits in a tight job market. In addition, the Living Wage Bill should also be supported as both a legislative initiative and economic development policy of this Administration.
New Taxes. A legislative agenda, including the reinstatement of the Commuter Tax, generating revenues of $413 million, should be pursued by this Administration. This is one of the options presented in a report issued by the Independent Budget Office on addressing the New York City budget deficit for FY 2003. The economic slowdown reinforces the urgency of the city’s need to reevaluate some of the $3 billion in tax cuts that have been enacted since 1995.

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