Spend responsibly

There is a staggering array of things that a mayor of New York City must keep in mind at all times, from trash pickup to public safety to special education. Among the wonkiest yet most consequential is managing the city’s spending and debt commitments. It’s such a crucial task that it is shared with another citywide elected official, the comptroller.

Spending unwisely can quickly become an anchor dragging down the effectiveness of all other city functions. Particularly amid the COVID economic uncertainty, with the tourism economy still hobbled and the fate of the city’s Manhattan central business districts hanging in the balance, the city must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and budget crunches.

It’s the right call for Mayor Adams to go back to the time-tested strategy of requiring programs to eliminate the gap, or PEGs, asking for municipal agencies to identify potential cuts totaling 3% of spending for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.

Though Mayor de Blasio had an allergy to the

PEG medicine, the fact is it has been a tool in the budget-balancing arsenal for decades. These are potential reductions in case the city finds itself facing a budget cliff, not necessarily mandated cuts across the board. Budget Director Jacques Jiha was clear that the trims should not come from layoffs, and exempted a handful of departments facing extant crises — the Health Department, the public hospitals, the chief medical examiner and Correction.

As for the mayor’s effort to have the Legislature grant the city an additional $19 billion in debt borrowing capacity for capital spending, we offer cautious support. We understand Comptroller Brad Lander’s concerns about expanding the city’s obligations and believe that a robust conversation around making capital projects more efficient and better managed should precede any actual borrowing.

However, this move would only raise the cap, something that we’ll need under almost any scenario given projections that the city will have reached its current debt ceiling by 2025. Lander will have plenty of tools to influence the process going forward.