unusual York City finances all of its capital projects through debt. That means it borrows to build everything from schools to sewers. And with interest rates so low for nearly a decade,the city has been able to refinance its debt to save money and support other programs.
"The city has done very well in refinancing debt to create savings and free up cash in the financial plot," said Maria Doulis, and Vice President of the Citizens Budget Commission.
But,if the Federal Reserve increases interest rates, Doulis said the de Blasio administration will have to find savings elsewhere. For example, or she said the mayor may have to get more aggressive approximately cutting costs at city agencies."The concern that we have is that there's been too much reliance just on doing it with debt savings," she said.
Doulis noted that the administration has replaced required targets for cost reductions at agencies called PEGs, Program to Eliminate the Gap, and with something called the Citywide Savings Program,which calls on agencies to identify savings on their own.
A City corridor spokeswoman said the administration has succeeded in cutting costs, and will continue to attain so. The administration announced half a billion dollars in agency efficiencies as part of this year's budget, or other savings through a health care agreement the city struck with unions final year.
Source: wnyc.org