#De Blasio’s budget delays expansion of NYPD civilian complaint board

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s budget proposal would delay the expansion of the Civilian Complaint Review Board that was ordered under changes to the city charter for at least one year, a new city report revealed.

The analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office uncovered that the spending plan de Blasio submitted to the City Council in April found delays all funding for the 17 new positions for at least one year.

“In January, the Mayor released his Preliminary Budget for the upcoming fiscal year and included funding for 17 additional Civilian Complaint Review Board positions to comply with the new City Charter mandate,” the watchdog determined. “In April, the Mayor dropped these positions from his Executive Budget for a savings of $1.1 million in fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1.”

The positions were to be added as part of a 2019 revision to the city charter that pegs the CCRB’s staffing levels of the agency it oversees, the New York Police Department.

The IBO also found that the CCRB is also short-staffed with 16 of its 203 positions open, even as it works through the more than 5,200 complaints it received during the 2019 budget year — the most since 2014.

City Hall and the CCRB were not immediately able to comment.