Pinny Hikind

This antisemitic graffiti would be disgusting anywhere but to do this on school buses so 5-year old Jewish kids see it on their way to school is pure depravity.

My office has completed the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for NYC for FY2026 (due every year by Oct 31). NYC experienced strong economic growth over the past year, fueling a surge in tax revenue. But spending grew even faster, further weakening our underlying fiscal position even in good economic times. A booming Wall St. pushed personal income tax receipts up 15% last year. Overall City revenue grew by 5.4%. Expenditures grew by 7.0%, with several major programs contributing to the increase. Spending on rental assistance grew by 40.5% in a single year, reaching $1.9B (driven mainly by CityFHEPS). There was also rapid growth in spending on special ed due process claims and homeless services. NYC ran a deficit of $963M last year, before the adjustment for restricted fund activities. The City's Rainy Day Fund remains underfunded at just below $2B. The City’s borrowing and refinancing continued at a steady pace despite market fluctuations, and retail investor participation in our bond sales remained strong. But there are some notes of caution from our credit rating agencies. Two of the four (Fitch and Moody’s) currently maintain a negative outlook on the City’s bond rating, although none has changed its actual rating. As of the end of FY26, the City’s pension funds saw a strong aggregate return, net of fees, of 13.0%—well above the 7.0% actuarial target. AI-related investment has been a major driver of economic growth in NYC. But there is also enormous uncertainty ahead. AI itself could cause serious economic disruption, while our city also faces broader risks in the national and global economy. NYC has repeatedly proven its ability to adapt to economic change. Our extraordinary concentration of talent, capital, creativity, and entrepreneurship remains unmatched. If we manage our finances responsibly and prepare for the changes ahead, I am confident that NYC will continue to lead—and that we will be able to sustain the vital services New Yorkers depend on. To read our full annual financial report (warning: it is 500+ pages!), see the link in the reply.

Today my office has released a major new report on student enrollment in NYC. We found that k-12 enrollment in our public schools has fallen by 187k since 2013, with a projected decline of an additional 128k students by 2034. As total enrollment declines, NYCPS is serving a student population with growing needs. The number of students with disabilities is increasing. In the most recent school year, approximately 73% of students were in poverty and 14% were homeless or living in temporary housing. Our report finds the drop in enrollment is driven by declining births and families with children leaving NYC, with a particularly notable drop in public-school enrollment as students transition from elementary to middle school. These trends have massive implications for our schools that we have only barely begin to grapple with. My hope is that this report will spur a long overdue conversation about what the era of falling student enrollment means for NYC, and what we can do to reverse or slow it. 🧵

My office just completed an analysis of FDNY EMS, showing that average response times have increased by 3 min 50 sec for life-threatening medical emergencies and 14 min 49 sec for non-life-threatening emergencies since 2015. Why are waits getting longer in NYC? Our report points to fewer ambulances in service, growing demand, long hospital turnaround times, traffic—and an EMS workforce struggling with recruitment and retention amid low salaries. New Yorkers calling 911 in a medical emergency cannot afford to wait longer and longer for help. We need to get more ambulances on the street, strengthen the EMS workforce, and cut the delays that keep crews tied up instead of responding to the next emergency.

The economic relationship between New York City and Israel is deeply important, bringing substantial investment into our city and generating strong returns for our pension funds. Our funds invest around the world, including more than $285 million in Israel, primarily in equities. Israel remains one of the world’s most dynamic and innovative economies, and those holdings remain an important part of our portfolio. They also make clear that New York City’s pension funds are not engaging in BDS. I expressed my deep appreciation for the Israel-NYC economic relationship during my campaign for comptroller, and that appreciation remains unchanged. I also pledged to make every investment decision free of politics, based solely on its financial merits and my fiduciary responsibility to 750,000 current and future retirees. We apply those same principles to Israel Bonds. At present, a number of challenges, including constraints related to a rules change on our short-term investment desk made by the previous comptroller, prevent us from making direct purchases. We continue to evaluate this investment, as we do all potential investments. Anyone suggesting that this means I am giving up on Israel is trying to turn the ordinary rebalancing and management of a pension portfolio into a political issue. That is simply not the case. Our commitment to investing in Israel remains clear in the hundreds of millions of dollars in Israeli equities that our pension funds continue to hold. Like many Jewish New Yorkers, my deep personal connection to Israel is a part of who I am. It will not change. As New York City comptroller, I also have a solemn duty to safeguard our city’s pension funds, and I will not shirk that responsibility. I will continue to honor both commitments with integrity.

My phone started buzzing with messages from friends in Israel early on October 7th. The unfolding catastrophe shook me to my core. Three years later it still feels raw. In the Jewish community, we have made memorializing tragedies—going back 2,500 years—a solemn obligation. I believe that has been an important source of our strength and resilience. I have no doubt that October 7th will endure as one of those historic tragedies, though just three years later, we are still grappling with how best to memorialize this fresh horror. I hope and believe that, ultimately, out of the pain of so many innocent lives lost, we will build a better, more peaceful future.

Whenever I post about pension investments on this site my replies fill up with people who are under the mistaken impression that NYC's pension funds are in terrible shape. But the opposite is true. In the fiscal year that just ended, our funds generated a robust total return of 13.0%, net of fees. This substantially exceeds our target of 7.0%. Our assets now total $325 billion. These results are so strong that they reduce the City’s required pension contributions by $6.3 billion over the next five fiscal years. Across our five systems we are 86.6% funded, better than most other public pensions in the nation. If you want to dive into all the details, see our most recent annual report on pension performance: comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/…

Shana tova NYC…. 🍎🍯