A new WalletHub report concluded that New York City is one of the worst-run cities in America thanks to high debt and a low high school graduation rate.
A new report concluded that New York City isn't well run by looking at its high debt and low high school graduation rates.
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New York City is the third worst-run city in the country, according to a new report. |
By Kristin Toussaint, Metro
New
Yorkers may feel like this is one of the best cities in America, but a
new report has named New York City one of the worst-run cities in the
United States.
New York City ranked as the third-worst-run city in the country according to a WalletHub study published on Monday.
[post_ads]This is the second year in a row New York landed near the bottom on
WalletHub’s ranking of the best-run cities. Out of 150 cities measured
on a variety of “quality of services,” New York came in at number 148,
above only Detroit and Washington, D.C. Gulfport, Mississippi and San
Fransisco came in above New York, rounding out the top five worst-run
cities.
WalletHub's list looks at how effective the local leadership is, but how can that be measured?
"One way is by determining a city’s operating efficiency," per the
report. "In other words, we can learn how well city officials manage and
spend public funds by comparing the quality of services residents
receive against the city’s total budget."
The study’s “quality of services” score looked at different details
across several categories: financial stability, education, health,
safety, economy and infrastructure and pollution.
New York fared well in the safety area, but its finances and economic
issues dragged down its overall score. According to the report, New
York has some of the highest long-term outstanding debt.
Per the Citizens Budget Commission,
a nonprofit that works to change the city and state’s finances, New
York City’s debt outstanding grew to $116 billion at the end of fiscal
year 2017. The city’s debt has grown by 71 percent since 2005, the
nonprofit says, which then affects the city’s budget every year.
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The report also dinged New York City when it came to education. The
high school graduation rate here is 74.3 percent, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced in February.
Though that’s above some cities like Washington (73 percent in the 2016-17 school year) and Toledo, Ohio (64.5 percent),
it’s far below other cities, like Huntington Beach, California, which
ranked number one under the education category and which has a high
school graduation rate of 98 percent.
Nampa, Idaho came in at the overall top spot on the best-run cities
list, followed by Provo, Utah; Boise, Idaho; Lexington-Fayette,
Kentucky; and Missoula, Montana. Boston came in at number 81 and
Philadelphia at number 134.
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