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The Cost of Running New York City For a Day
The head of the NYC Council Finance Committee, Justin Brannan, requested that IBO investigate the cost of running the city for a day. Since there are many ways to break down the budget, IBO created "NYC Spending in a Day," an Excel-based tool that uses Fiscal Year 2022 operating expense data to estimate the average cost of running the city of New York for a day. Users can decide which types of spending (Object Codes) and Agencies to include in the calculation. The tool uses actual spending data from the NYC Financial Management System.
Instructions: Download and open the macro-enabled Excel file from the link below. Enable editing (at the top), then Enable Macros (you will need to close the workbook > find it in File Explorer under Downloads > right-click the file > Properties > General > Select “Unblock” at the bottom > reopen the file). Select which Agencies and Object Codes should be included in the "cost of a day" in the two subsequent tabs. Then open the "Cost per Day" tab to see a PivotTable with the daily cost by agency cabinet, agency, expense category, and object code. (The PivotTable automatically refreshes when changes are made in any other tab when Macros are enabled.) To see the costs broken down, you can expand the PivotTable to see more detail.
Download NYC Spending in a Day.
Average Daily Spending by Agency
Below, IBO presents one way to calculate the cost of running NYC for a day. The interactive diagram below presents average daily spending by agency and cabinet, groups of agencies that provide similar services. The example includes all city spending from Fiscal Year 2022 (including purchases between NYC agencies), which averaged $299.9 million daily. However, if users want to drill down further within agencies and exclude certain costs, the Excel-based tool enables users to calculate their own cost of running NYC for a day.
Clicking on a cabinet will call up the table below the diagram showing the spending by the agencies covered by that cabinet.