The two leading candidates to become the next city comptroller agree on what the major challenge will be: fighting Donald Trump and the Republicans who control Washington.
“We have to fight back,” said Justin Brannan, City Council member representing Bay Ridge and chair of the finance committee and a key player in budget negotiations. “We have to show that we are going to fight back and we are not just going to take this.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine is in complete agreement: “I think we need to fight back politically, legally and any way we can through allies in Washington.
Beyond that agreement, interviews by THE CITY show the two candidates have differences on how to manage the city’s budget this year amid the threat that Republicans in Washington will slash aid to both the city and state.
They have somewhat different plans for the city’s $284 billion pension funds they oversee as well as which city agencies they would emphasize for audits.
But there seem to be no plans to change how the day-to-day work of the office has been conducted by current Comptroller Brad Lander, who decided to run for mayor rather than seek reelection.
In addition to being a watchdog and kibbitzer on how the administration manages the budget and managing the five major city pension funds, the comptroller helps sell the city’s bonds, oversees lawsuits alleging the city harmed someone, reviews and certifies contracts and enforces wage laws.
The 46-year-old Brannan’s first career was as a musician specializing in hardcore punk. He won election to the Council in 2017 and has emerged as a strong critic of the zig-zagging budgeting tactics of Mayor Eric Adams. He is term-limited and must leave the Council after this year.
The 55-year-old Levine served in the City Council from 2014 to 2021, when he won election as president of the borough of Manhattan. He has become known for his aggressive YIMBY views on the need to build more housing in the city. He chose to run for comptroller rather than seek reelection.
Both candidates assert that the Adams administration’s budget practices verge on dishonesty by underestimating revenues and overstating expected expenses, especially the cost of aiding asylum-seekers. In that they are joined by independent fiscal watchers ranging from the Citizens Budget Commission, Independent Budget Office and state comptroller.
But they disagree on a key issue as the Council and the mayor negotiate the next budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Levine, echoing a proposal by Lander, would add $1 billion to the city’s $8 billion in reserves to increase the cushion in the event of federal budget cuts.
Brannan says the reserve, which is at a record level in terms of dollars but has been declining as a percentage of the budget, is adequate. And he sees another reason not to increase it.
“If we were pounding our chests and saying, ‘We’ve got everything we need, let them come and cut us,’ I think they would,” he said.
Brannan and Levine agree on the importance of managing the pension funds assets to achieve an average annual return of 7%. The city is obligated to make up any shortfall as part of its contributions to the pension fund, which already total a little more than $10 billion a year.
Brannan recently called for the pension funds to sell all the Tesla stock they own as a protest against CEO Elon Musk’s actions to downsize the federal government. Previous comptrollers have divested from companies that had business ties to South Africa or more recently oil and gas companies.
Levine wants to increase the pension fund investments in affordable housing, providing lower-cost bridge financing to lower the overall interest rate to developers. He says returns will probably be about 6% and that the gap with the 7% target can be made up with higher-than-target gains from other assets.
Wading into the tensions created by the war in Gaza, he told THE CITY he wants to start buying Israeli bonds for the pension funds, which they do not do currently. Brannan’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal.
At the first formal debate between the two in March, Brannan said auditing the Department of Education would be his top priority.
“I don’t know a parent or a teacher in the city that would say, yeah, I feel like my kid’s getting a $35 billion education,” he told THE CITY referring to the size of the city’s education budget.
Levine’s priority for audits is the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, in line with his emphasis on housing.
“You’ve got the property and the developer and the zoning’s all good to go,” he told THE CITY. “But you have to add 12 to 18 months to the timeline waiting for HPD to approve the loan term sheets.”
With no public polling, it is hard to know the state of the race. But Levine leads on fundraising.
Levine has raised $1,006,721 and has received $1,872,067 in public matching funds, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board web site.
Brannan trails with $595,978 raised and has received matching funds of $1,265,301.
With the crucial work of the comptroller rarely the topic of tabloid headlines, the campaigns tend to emphasize issues likelier to resonate with voters. At last month’s debate, moderator Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, chided Levine for a website that focuses on affordability, public safety and health care, among other issues that have little to do with the actual responsibilities of the job.
The duties of the job are important, Levine told THE CITY. “But doing those well gives you significant levers to also impact the direction of policy more broadly in New York City government. And I think a good comptroller has a responsibility to lead on issues beyond the ministerial functions of the office.”
Brannan’s site also emphasizes broad citywide issues, although it includes more topics directly related to the job.
Still Rein wishes they would stick to what a comptroller is supposed to do.
“A good comptroller has the independence, long-term view, and depth of understanding of City finances and operations to carry out the technical duties while using a clear eye and strong voice to hold the administration accountable for efficiency, integrity, and quality,” he said. “Importantly, comptrollers often improve their political standing as much or more by performing the job’s duties well than by using the position as a political bully pulpit.”
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