Most New York City agencies improved their rate of starting capital projects in 2015, said city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The overall rate of capital commitments rose from 52% in fiscal 2014 to 65% in 2015, Stringer said in a June 9 statement. Stringer commissioned his first such study last year.
In fiscal 2015, he said, the city committed to $9.3 billion in capital projects, enabling construction and capital improvements to proceed on bridges, roads, parks, schools and other infrastructure.
"City agencies were more effective at getting capital contracts registered and shovels in the ground last year, which means new school spaces, improved parks, and repaved streets," said Stringer. "But even as more capital projects are being started, there's still much more work to be done. City agencies should seek to begin all the projects they've planned so much-needed construction and repairs can proceed without delay."
From 2014 to 2015, more than two-thirds of the city's 25 agencies with capital budgets improved their rates of capital commitments. These improvements resulted from different factors, according to Stringer: some agencies lowered their planned commitments; others increased their actual commitments; and some did both.
Some examples include the $5.8 million Manhattan Bridge reconstruction; the $3.4 million 40th Precinct police station house in the Bronx, and the $1.7 million NYU Hospitals Center.
