Chair Linda Lee welcomes members and introduces Finance Division staff

Good morning and welcome to the final day.

Well, technically we have the public testimony tomorrow, but final day of the FY27 Executive Budget Agency hearings.

I'm Councilmember Linda Lee.

Thankfully, I still have all my hair and didn't get too gray in the process.

But we are joined by, we will be committing the hearing today with Mayor's Office of Management and Budget, followed by Comptroller, Department of Finance, and the Independent Budget Office.

At this time, I would like to introduce my colleagues.

Of course, we are joined by our speaker, our Deputy Speaker Williams, Majority Whip Hanks, Majority Leader Abreu, Councilmember Shulman, Dinowitz, Ung, Lewis, Krishnan, Narcisse, and I think that is it for now.

Okay.

Oh, and Councilmember Banks.

So before we start, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the dedicated staff of the City Council Finance Division for their tireless efforts in preparing for today's hearing.

I know it was a lot of long

This work doesn't happen on its own, and I want to acknowledge the mighty team of dedicated professionals who make it all possible.

Finance Director Nathan Toth, Managing Director Jonathan Rosenberg, Deputy Directors Amre Edev, Chima Okbisher, Paul Simone, and Isha Wright, Chief Economist and Assistant Director Delaria Dimnanku.

Supervising Economists Paul Sturm and Andrew Wilber, Assistant Directors Alia Ali, Julia Haramis, Florentine Cabor, Caitlin O'Hagan, James Reyes, and Jack Story, Chief Counsel Nicholas Connell,

Senior Counsel Nadia Jean-Francois, and my Committee Counsel Brian Sarfo.

My senior advisor, Athena Say, and many finance analysts, economists, and support staff who have worked behind the scenes to bring everything together.

Welcome to Director Sharif Solomon, to you and your team, and thank you all for joining us today to answer our questions.