Council oversight hearing presses DOI over cuts, heavy forfeiture use and asks to protect watchdog funding

The Committee on Oversight and Investigations questioned the Department of Investigation’s (DOI) leadership at a fiscal 2027 preliminary budget hearing, pressing the agency on deep staffing cuts since 2021, proposed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ‘pegs’ and the department’s growing reliance on asset forfeiture funds.

Acting Commissioner Christopher Ryan told the committee the FY27 preliminary budget totals $54.1 million, consisting of about $30.5 million for personal services and $23.6 million for other-than-personal-services (OTPS). He said DOI expects an active head count of 451 citywide, with 309 funded through DOI’s budget and memoranda-of-understanding and 142 staff funded by other city agencies and authorities.

The hearing centered on how cuts and staffing declines have affected DOI’s oversight capacity. "We certainly needed to do the large-scale labor-intensive, high-profile cases last year," Ryan said, adding that reduced staffing forces the agency to triage work. Chair Shekar Krishnan highlighted the trend: DOI’s active head count fell from 525 in fiscal year 2021 to about 417 today, a reduction of roughly 108 positions over several years.

Ryan and council members discussed specific budget pressures. DOI said non-discretionary OTPS obligations — notably an $18.5 million rental obligation and $4.4 million in integrity monitorship costs — leave only about $200,000 in discretionary OTPS to meet OMB pegs. Ryan described proposed OMB actions that would cut OTPS and impose a 50% vacancy-reduction peg in personal services as "not reasonable for DOI" and said DOI has sought exemptions that have not been approved.

The agency described a range of 2025 outputs it says demonstrate its continuing impact: 14 public reports, more than $6 million in financial recoveries linked to investigations, about $5 million saved through monitorships of asylum-seeker contracts, roughly 174 arrests, nearly 13,000 complaints received, and 113 policy and procedure recommendations.

Council members focused on two longer-term funding risks: reliance on asset forfeiture and the DOI proposal to peg its budget to a share of the city budget. Ryan provided forfeiture spending figures that rise sharply in recent years: roughly $1.37 million in FY23, $3.62 million in FY24 and about $6.97 million in FY25, with current obligations of $7.3 million and a forecasted $9.9 million by 2026. He said DOI received $32 million from the City Time settlement in 2022 and that about $20 million remains; at current draw rates the reserve could be depleted in two to four years.

Ryan emphasized legal limits on forfeiture use: Department of Justice guidance requires forfeiture funds to supplement, not supplant, the city-funded budget. He said DOI has used forfeiture for items such as an antiquated case-management system and other technical upgrades that DOI characterizes as maintenance and operational needs.

On structural protection for the agency, Ryan described DOI’s charter-revision proposal to set DOI funding as a fixed percentage of the city budget (the office recommended 0.06 percent). He said that formula would have produced roughly $72 million and a headcount in the high 600s or low 700s — figures DOI presented as an "optimal" level to restore proactive investigative capacity and insulate DOI from political pressures.

Council members probed staffing and performance metrics: Ryan acknowledged a rise in average time to complete investigations and said complex, high-level probes skew timelines. He described DOI’s efforts to rebalance investigative squads and to recruit specialists (auditors, data analysts, background investigators) in requests that include $1.1 million to support 17 additional positions and restoration requests totaling roughly $1.4 million for previously defunded roles.

Witnesses and members also discussed monitorships and vendor integrity work: DOI reported about 18 staff in the vendor integrity unit, roughly 10 active monitorships, and separate teams handling watershed and capital-construction oversight. Ryan said monitorships and rent are non-discretionary budget items that constrain DOI’s ability to absorb pegs.

Public testimony followed. Ben Weinberg, director of public policy at Citizens Union, urged the council to increase funding for DOI and the Conflicts of Interest Board, and to pursue charter-protected minimum funding to preserve independence. "If we do want to show the people of New York that we are turning the page on the corruption of the last administration," Weinberg said, "we must ensure watchdogs are adequately resourced."

The committee did not take a vote on budget items at the hearing. Members said they will continue negotiations with the administration as the city’s budget process proceeds.