Tuberculosis control, bus lane construction, bathroom cleaning: Where staffing problems continued to hurt city services

Fewer miles of bus lanes installed. An innovative mental health and public safety program forced to operate on a reduced schedule. Diminished capacity to perform Tuberculosis control measures. 

A shortage of New York City workers was blamed, in full or in part, for a wide array of slowed or otherwise underperforming city services reflected in the latest version of the Mayor’s Management Report for fiscal year 2025. 

The report, released Wednesday afternoon, shows that staffing shortages at city agencies continue to hinder the delivery of a number of city services. As City & State recently reported, staffing across city agencies is up under Mayor Eric Adams from a peak vacancy rate during the COVID-19 pandemic, but hiring is still restricted to a two-out, one-in policy at most city agencies, and unfilled vacancies put a strain on both service delivery and employees’ morale.

The Mayor’s Management Report covering July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 reflects some of those strains, as well as some areas where progress with hiring allows the city to work better and faster. Here’s the staffing picture in the 544-page annual report. 

“Reduced capacity”

As in previous editions of this annual report, “staffing gaps and restricted funding” continue to reduce the ability of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to conduct what it calls “core tuberculosis control activities.” An added stressor this past fiscal year, however, is new threats to federal funding, which the report notes pay for a good chunk of that work. “TB control in New York City would be significantly compromised by any future cuts to federal funding,” the report states. City Hall said that the health department is currently hiring for 51 new staff positions that would support TB prevention and control, and has added other non-personnel funding to support that work.

The city’s construction of new miles of bus lanes is also down from 15.7 miles in fiscal year 2024 – a level of construction that already incensed public transit advocates – to 5.5 miles in fiscal year 2025. The report blames that decline on “resource constraints, including delays in contract approvals and staff shortages.” City Hall noted that additional projects have begun since the end of this past fiscal year or are planned in the coming months.

Mental health co-response teams – a joint venture of the health and police departments to respond to people in mental health crises – reported staffing shortages and recruitment problems coming from both departments. The number of new individuals served – 384 – is roughly on par with the previous fiscal year but is still well under a target of 500. City Hall said the program is not the administration’s only one to reach people experiencing mental illness and homelessness and pointed to increases in funding for mental health services. 

The cleanliness and conditions of New York City’s parks declined slightly, as did public restroom cleanliness, attributed to budget cuts for so-called “second shift” cleaning staff, but new funding for those positions in the latest budget should help those levels rebound, the report notes.

Signs of improvement

The new report wasn’t all bad news on staffing. In one demonstration of how city services can improve when new staff are hired, the number of veterans who received homelessness prevention and other programming from the Department of Veterans’ Services increased more than two-fold thanks to increased staffing.

The hiring of new child protective specialists at the Administration for Children’s Services helped lower those employees’ caseloads from 8.1 to 7.

A unit dedicated to fighting tenant harassment at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development saw a 24% increase in proactive building visits – credited to it being “almost fully staffed and fully trained.”

Restaurant inspections – where staffing shortages caused major strains in the previous fiscal year – saw a slight increase, thanks to hiring new inspectors and deploying overtime, though the rate of inspections (69.7) is still below the 100% target.

The mayor’s take

Though the Mayor’s Management Report is produced by the administration – and criticized by some as being overly vague – it’s often the most data-rich insight available to the public on how well (or not) city agencies are working. Adams, who is steeped in a difficult battle for reelection, celebrated the report card on Wednesday, pointing to declines in major crimes and rat sightings.

On the staffing issues in particular, City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia shared the same statement sent for City & State’s earlier story on city staffing. “When Mayor Adams came into office, the city’s workforce had a higher-than-average vacancy rate and was still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read. “Since then, the Adams administration has brought New York City’s economy and tourism back, driven crime down to record lows, navigated the city through an $8 billion migrant crisis, and built, preserved, and planned for an unprecedented amount of housing across our city – all while reducing the vacancy rate and increasing our city’s workforce by more than 3,000 people.”