Commissioner on pass-through funds, space savings, and $6M in financial recoveries
Shahada explains that $3.4M of DOI's budget is pass-through funding for CCPC and a borough-based jails integrity monitor that doesn't support DOI operations. She describes space savings from relocating CCPC and renting a floor to OCA generating $1.8M annually, plus $6M in financial recoveries and $5M saved through the asylum seeker monitorship.
In other words, these funds do not support DOI's internal staff or operations in any way.
Specifically, $855,000 is allocated for the separate entity, CCPC,
while the remaining $2.6 million funds an integrity monitor that reports to DOI and is monitoring the construction of the borough-based jails.
Despite these budget constraints, DOI has still sought savings as mandated by the mayor's office.
In collaboration with the City Department of Citywide Administrative Services and OMB,
We assessed our space footprint as part of a citywide space savings initiative and relocated CCPC from leased space at 17 Battery Place to DOI headquarters at 180 Maiden Lane.
This saved the city approximately $157,700 annually.
Separately, DOI rented one of its
floors at 180 Maiden Lane to the New York State Office of Court Administration, which generates approximately $1.8 million annually.
in lease expense reimbursement to the city.
However, OMB does not credit these lease savings towards the cuts it has mandated in DOI's budget.
More importantly, so far in fiscal year 2026, DOI investigations have resulted in financial recoveries of more than $6 million that have been collected by the city.
These recoveries are case dependent and DOI cannot predict from year to year how much those financial recoveries will be.
But in fiscal year 2026 so far, DOI's work has added $6 million to the city's general fund.
Those financial recoveries are on top of the public funds that have been protected as a result of our investigations and integrity monitorships, such as the $5.07 million in public funds saved as part of the Asylum Seeker monitorship.
That monitorship found an array of vendor invoicing errors that included mistaken double billing and overpayment of advance deposits and other anomalies.
And we have looked for opportunities to develop new avenues to fight fraud and save the city money.
Last week, Corporation Counsel Steve Banks and I engaged in preliminary discussions on ways DOI and the law department
can work collaboratively to recoup city funds lost in non-criminal cases, including through civil fraud cases under the False Claims Act.
It is this sort of innovative thinking that sends a strong and unified message that the city as a whole is standing
up to address corruption and fraud on all available fronts.