New York CityProposal 5

Case for

Common Cause New York recommends Yes: clearer rules for building and drawing on reserves make fiscal decisions more predictable and open to public scrutiny, and the Comptroller gets a formal role in setting the deposit method.

Common Cause New York · October 15, 2026

What the adopted text says

Reserves “shall be at least twelve percent of the revenue received by the city from taxes in the preceding fiscal year,” and the City deposits toward that target “unless pursuant to such methodology no such deposit is required.” The budget office prepares the methodology “in consultation with the comptroller.”

Case against

Reinvent Albany recommends No because the amendment requires a published deposit methodology rather than binding deposits, and lets other reserve funds count toward the 12% target. In its NYC Votes statement it adds that deposits depend on the year-end operating surplus, which a mayor can shrink by prepaying the next year’s costs, and that the Mayor would decide when a “compelling fiscal need” allows larger withdrawals.

Reinvent Albany · September 29, 2026

What the adopted text says

Deposits are made “subject to appropriations,” and the target counts “any other reserve fund maintained by the city that is identified in the methodology.” The methodology must take into account “the amount of the city’s operating surplus,” and more than half the fund can be withdrawn in a year only if “the mayor has certified that there is a compelling fiscal need.”