New NYC Comptroller Dashboard Measures How City Agencies Deliver Services

New York, NY — New York City Comptroller Brad Lander launched a dashboard measuring how well City agencies are delivering services to New Yorkers. Using data from the Mayor’s Management Report and other City agency open data sources, the dashboard — Measuring NYC Government Performance — indicates whether various agencies’ performance improved, declined, or stayed steady, using easy-to-read, color-coded graphics, and data-backed indicators.  

“We can’t manage what we don’t measure,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “From emergency response times, to proficiency in reading and math, to how many new homes are being built, to how clean the streets are, New Yorkers deserve transparent metrics about how well — or how poorly — City agencies are delivering the services they need.” 

Key indicators from the new dashboard include: 

• The Department of Buildings (DOB) issued 38% fewer certificates of occupancy this year than last year: 1,879 certificates in September 2023 through August 2024, compared to 3,017 certificates from September 2022 through August 2023. And compared to 2019, DOB issued 90% fewer certificates: DOB issued 1,253 certificates so far this year, yet 12,475 as of the same date in 2019. 

• The Department of Design and Construction improved its on-time design and construction projects considerably in 2024, meeting its goals of 89% and 91% respectively, the highest in five years.  

• Vehicle crashes killed more people on city streets last month, from 17 people in July to 27 people in August.  

• While school enrollment continues to decline, student test scores show mixed results: more than half of elementary and middle school students met standards in math, an improvement from last year; but fewer students met standards in English language arts compared to last year. 

• The Fire Department’s average response times are increasingly slower: in April through June of this year, fire company response times were 23 seconds slower (from 6:31 to 6:54) and ambulance response times were 45 seconds slower (from 8:00 to 8:45) compared to the year before.

• Bus and subway ridership remains below pre-pandemic levels: riders have taken 1.5 million fewer trips so far this year compared to the same months of 2019.  

• Complaints against police officers for force, abuse of authority, or other misconduct are up by 20%, from 4,703 in FY 2023 to 5,644 in FY 2024. Police responded to crimes in progress a minute and a half slower in the most recent quarter than this time last year.

View the full dashboard here. 

###