Ariola and Kristoff debate capital project backlog and deferred maintenance

We're going to move on to, well, does the fire department have a platform that tracks and prioritizes work order requests, assessments, and resolution?

Yes, we do.

We have an asset management program.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

I'm sorry.

Yes, we do.

We have an EAM.

It's an asset management program.

Okay, and you use the Niedermann systems as well, or?

Yes, we have Niedermann systems.

Niedermann systems.

And how many systems are inoperable right now?

Zero.

Zero.

They're all operable?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

All right.

Okay.

Let's see.

The FDNY has publicly cited a substantial backlog of capital projects.

facilities funding to the out years.

Meanwhile, we have identified a list of firehouses with severely deteriorating roofs, of which only six projects have been funded to date.

We have serious concerns about deferred maintenance.

The adequacy of near-term capital funding, and the administration's reliance on council member allocations to fund what could be core infrastructure.

Do you have an amount needed to repair all capital projects, and have you requested that from the administration?

So to talk about facilities funding in general, so our current capital plan includes $994 million for facilities across FY26 through FY35.

The funding is split pretty evenly between the first five years and the last five years.

It's actually slightly front-loaded.

So FY26 through FY30 is $553 million, whereas FY31 through FY35 is $441 million.

But even with that, I mean, we have many facilities.

We have over 400 buildings, and they are old.

So the average age of our firehouses is approaching 100 years old.

And so our state of good repair needs have exceeded our budget.

I think we are seeing the budget move in the right direction.

So this plan includes an additional $24 million for roofs.

And, you know, we have also seen that our capital funding for facilities over the last five years has nearly doubled.

We've seen significant adds to our budget over the last five years.

Yet many firehouses remain in disrepair, a few of which, and a number of you, our commissioner, our chief, and certainly Paul, we were out there looking at them.

So how can you...

take this pool of funding that is pushed into the out years and encourage the administration to bring that funding forward.

So we do have conversations with OMB about project accelerations, and the executive budget did include some funding accelerations on the facility side.

It included accelerating $11.7 million into next year for renovations at one of our fleet maintenance buildings, which will expand capacity.

It included accelerations of $1.7 million into 27 and $10.1 million into 28 for multi-component renovations at EMS Station 4.

It included $10.5 million into FY27 to replace the apparatus for Engine Company 163, and $6.8 million into FY27 to replace air compressors at our mask services unit.

I think there are lots of projects that we're looking at to see if there's a potential for acceleration.

Bandwidth is a part of this, too.

So the additional civilian headcount that was added in this plan will be incredibly beneficial towards getting more projects done.

So that will allow us to hire more trade staff and facilities to make repairs.

We'll help with our project management capability.

We'll help with procurement.

So we've lost a lot of procurement staff, and adding back some of those folks will help get those design and construction.

Construction contracts that we need to get that capital work moving done faster.

Okay, so.