Most of the city charter ballot measures advanced by Mayor Adams appeared poised to pass late Tuesday amid controversy with the City Council over the proposals.
While Adams has said the measures — some of which impose new requirements on how the City Council drafts new laws — will make sure the city’s legislative processes are fiscally responsible, Council members have said they would add unnecessary red tape. Adams critics argue they were part of an effort by him to stifle efforts by the City Council to expand its input on mayoral appointments.
As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, four of the measures advanced onto the 2024 election ballot by the mayor — questions two, three, four and five — seemed slated to pass with more than 85% of votes counted. The final measure, question six, appeared likely to be rejected.
One of the most controversial measures, question three, proposes to require the City Council to draw up official analyses estimating the financial impact of bills before voting on them. The question would also allow the mayor’s budget office to draft its own legislative financial assessments that would have to be considered before votes.
The fourth question has been perhaps the most contentious. That one would require the City Council to give at least 30 days’ notice before voting on any bills relating to the operations of the NYPD, the FDNY and the Department of Correction. It would also mandate that the mayor’s office be allowed to hold its own public hearing on any such bill before it can be voted on.
The fourth proposal emerged after the Council overrode vetoes the mayor issued earlier this year to try to unsuccessfully prevent two public safety-related Council bills from becoming law — one banning solitary confinement in city jails and another subjecting NYPD officers to more transparency requirements.
Council members have said they see the proposal as an attempt by the mayor to punish them for the veto overrides, while he argues the city’s law enforcement apparatus should be given more say over legislation impacting their operations.
Two of the remaining three ballot proposals relate to expanding the Department of Sanitation’s authority to clean public spaces and requiring more rigorous annual reporting on the state of city-owned buildings. The final measure, the sixth question that appeared likely to be rejected by voters, would create a new city government position focused on advocating for minority-and women-owned businesses.
Council members have questioned whether the mayor pushed forward the referendum questions because a provision in municipal law made it so that their inclusion blocked the Council from getting a separate Charter revision proposal onto the ballot that would’ve, if approved, curtailed his ability to unilaterally make certain commissioner-level appointments.
The mayor has denied his Charter revision effort was motivated by the fact that it stood to kill the Council’s proposal. In an op-ed published by the Daily News, he argued the measures will ensure “our city can continue to improve and thrive.”
The ballot proposals were drafted by a commission made up of 13 members appointed by the mayor, several of whom are longtime political allies. The panel took two months before it presented the five proposals in time for them to make it onto this year’s ballot, an unusually quick turnaround.
Speaker Adams, joined by dozens of her Democratic Council colleagues, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and others, urged New Yorkers to vote no on all five proposals ahead of Tuesday’s election.
