At its October meeting, RIOC’s board approved a budget for the next fiscal year that tells some stories, Mostly, it shows CFO Dhruvika Patel Amin pulling finances together with a coherence unseen since John O’Reilly left.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
RIOC’s Budget for 2025/26
A state agency, RIOC begins its fiscal year on April 1st. A proposed budget is due by September 30th, but this year, it came in late – as it did in 2023. The reasons are similar. Amin arrived on Roosevelt Island last year amid turmoil. Her predecessor was already gone. This year, she grapples again with uncertainties, but like last year, her intelligence and sure-footedness come into play.
With some valuable experience under her belt, Amin sees reality in concrete terms and finds reasonable balance. There’s a notable lack of wishful thinking.
We still think that RIOC’s nearly $40 million footprint on Roosevelt Island is excessive. But for what it is and won’t change, Amin handles the fiscal steering wheel convincingly.
Highlights
- The budget “…projects revenues of $39,301,745, an increase of $146,471 or 1.1%.” It’s a realistic starting point and shows a sense of holding the reins tight. RIOC has not seen an increase that small, below the level of inflation, in a long time, if ever.
- Expenses come in at $39,119,501, a virtually balanced budget, but there are troubling signs.It includes a whopping increase of 22 staff positions over the current level. No explanation accompanies the increase. For the record, though, it adds 3 new Public Safety hires. Staffing there already seemed bloated.
- Tram revenue is roped back into reality, expectations decreased by $418,966 to $6,664,473. This reflects current experience, but it also accents that the tourist-jammed cabins bleed red. It’s just redder than hoped. Tram expenses, including over $5 million to contracted operator Leitner-POMA, exceed income by well over a $2 million. This includes at least $2 million in insurance costs and $1,493,000 for “long-term maintenance and overhaul of the tram infrastructure to ensure safety.”
- For unexplained reasons, last year’s Motorgate and “Transport” revenue fell $824,512 short of projections. For next year, it counts on only $2,495,540. An unrealized shot at improving revenue exists there because RIOC sets Motorgate rates far below market. The community essentially subsidizes cars for no apparent reason. In conversations, it comes out as “because that’s how we always did it.”
- Finally, balancing this budget relies on $10,879,723 in interest on investments. That’s over a quarter of RIOC’s operating budget. Look at it this way. RIOC spends $10 million more than it earns in real operating revenue. Income from ground leases, resident fees and everything else comes nowhere near matching its spending.
Fault Lines
Amin does a solid job of controlling some spending while contending with inherited reality. It’s not enough, though, but there’s movement in the right direction.
LiRo was brought in by former CEO Susan Rosenthal as “owners representative.” It cost a million bucks a year. Now, it sees its role diminished to a marginal one-hundred grand. Expected legal fees shrink by nearly another million. That’s all good, but dark clouds persist.
At some levels, community satisfaction with RIOC has grown. But when we look at essential services, dissatisfaction soars.
- The Red Bus fleet fails to meet community needs many times over. RIOC is addressing that with new buses on order, but residents generally resent that conditions ever got this bad.
- Sportspark, since renovation, is a major plus with many resident swimming in its pools and lifting weights. But membership rates don’t come close to paying all the costs. That’s not viable over the long term. Interim leadership has turned away requests about how big the losses are. But “big” is the operative word. Fees must increase.
- Nothing matches the aggravations fed by bad handling of the Tram. Safety concerns over swinging and swaying cabins add to the issues. Additionally, a vital transportation asset is virtually converted into a tourist joy ride. Folks with physical limitations are routinely and illegally denied access. Others have given up. Overcrowding and rudeness from tourists angling for the latest Instagram video are a major cause. All that results in a $2 million plus annual loss. The situation verges on surreal. RIOC apparently has no answers.
Finally, the Budget Perspective…
We will attach a copy of the proposed 2025/26 budget below. Although serious issues persist, progress is being made in the right direction. Amin can’t act alone nor can all the budget problems be solved in a single year. And expecting a lackadaisical board that bumbled into this fiscal mess to fix it is fantasy. Consider that the state’s Budget Director occupies a permanent board membership, and you see how derelict it all is.
Amin and the interim leadership team make great strides, but they started out far behind needs. RIOC’s goals remain unclear. But there’s a quiet revolution in favor of competence emerging. How far will the politicians let it go? Only time and experience will tell.
Before I Find the Eggs
Trader Joe’s has its own choreography.
