New York City's revenue forecasting should be handled by the comptroller's office rather than the mayor's office, Comptroller John Liu said last week.
"One thing that would streamline our city budgeting process would be to take the revenue projection away from either of the two negotiating parties dealing with how we want to spend that money," Liu said at a breakfast sponsored by Crain's New York Business. "Giving it to the comptroller's office makes sense."
His remarks came as a commission holds hearings on possible revisions to the city's charter. Liu said the current system leads to a "budget dance" between the executive branch and the City Council.
"The budget dance is all about revising that projected revenue," Liu said. Having an independent entity do forecasting would allow the mayor and City Council to focus on the city's needs, he said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office disagreed. "We have a system that's proven it works," a spokesman said. "We're producing an on-time and balanced budget every year."
