Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office.
By Ben Max
Now that the presidential election is over, New Yorkers can turn to the 2025 municipal election. Party primaries will be in June, but a key milestone will be marked on December 16, 2024 when the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) issues the first public funds payments for the 2025 election. These matching funds — $8 for every dollar of eligible donations — can go a long way toward helping candidates for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President, and City Council run their campaigns and reach voters.
Here is what you need to know about that payment, according to Amy Loprest, a Senior Fellow at New York Law School’s Center for New York City and State Law and the former longtime Executive Director of the CFB:
- Ben Max: Who is eligible to receive a public funds payment?
Amy Loprest: The December 16 payment is for any candidate for a covered office who has joined the voluntary public funds program, has met the eligibility qualifications, and is opposed in their race. The CFB’s small dollar matching funds program covers five municipal offices – mayor, comptroller, public advocate, borough president, and City Council member. At this stage in the election, being opposed means that there is another candidate registered for the office sought.
- Max: How does a candidate qualify for a public funds payment?
Loprest: In addition to being opposed and joining the program, a candidate must demonstrate that they have sufficient support by meeting a two-part threshold.
The first part requires a candidate to receive a certain number of contributions from New York City residents of the area they seek to represent. For instance, a candidate for City Council must raise at least 75 contributions from district residents and mayoral candidates must raise 1,000 contributions from city residents. The second part of the threshold requires candidates to raise a certain dollar amount of contributions from city residents where only the first $250 of the contribution for citywide candidates and the first $175 for borough president or City Council candidates count. More details of the threshold amounts are available here.
For the December 16 payment, the CFB will determine whether campaigns have met the threshold based on disclosure statements filed by the campaigns by October 11, 2024.
Candidates must also have submitted a financial disclosure statement with the City’s Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB). (For the December 16th payment, candidates must submit a partial COIB financial disclosure statement by November 1 and subsequently a full statement by January 30, 2025.) Further, the candidate, campaign treasurer, or campaign manager must have attended both a compliance training and a training in the CFB’s disclosure software. (The training requirement was recently amended by the Board to require the candidate to attend a compliance training; and the campaign treasurer to attend a compliance and software training. These Rules will not be in effect in time for the December 16 payment.)
Candidates who are not running for an open seat (i.e., an incumbent running for re-election) must file a statement of need showing one of several reasons why they are entitled to a payment. All of these requirements have deadlines for completion.
- Max: How are the payments calculated?
Loprest: Campaigns receive eight dollars for every match-eligible dollar contribution from New York City residents. Up to $175 of each contribution to a City Council and borough president candidate and up to $250 of each contribution to a citywide candidate is eligible to be matched.
A 5% withholding is made from each payment up until the last payment before the primary or general election. The CFB makes additional withholdings for noncompliance, such as the amount of prohibited contributions received by a campaign and not refunded.
Campaigns can receive a maximum of public funds roughly equal to 89% of the spending limit. You can see the maximums for each office here — the spending limit for mayoral candidates in the primary is nearly $8 million, with a maximum public funds payment of roughly $7 million.
- Max: Why would a candidate not receive a payment on December 16, 2024?
Loprest: Aside from not meeting the qualification requirements, a candidate who owes penalties or public funds repayments from a previous election cannot receive public funds.
There are several other tests of not complying with the Campaign Finance Act or Board Rules that can disqualify a candidate for payment. These include:
- Failing to file a disclosure statement;
- Not accurately reporting financial activity such that there is a difference of 10% or more for receipts or 40% or more for disbursements between reported activity and bank records;
- Failing to report contributor employment information for 25% or more for contributions over $99;
- Failing to provide accurate documentation for more than 20% of the number of matching claims submitted;
- Exceeding the spending limit; or
- Failing to provide requested documents by the deadline required (this rule was recently amended to allow the Board to make a payment if the documents are submitted or the documents are deemed immaterial to the public funds payment).
The Campaign Finance Board may also determine that a candidate is ineligible if there is reason to believe they committed a violation of the Act or Board Rules.
- Max: How many more payments are there?
Loprest: There are 13 total payment dates scheduled for the 2025 election. Five are before the primary ballot is set and made on or about the 15th of the month until April. There are three more payments before the primary election – May 12, May 30, and June 20 — made four business days after disclosure deadlines.
And there are five payment dates for the general election — July 15, August 6, August 28, October 9, and October 30 — again based on disclosure deadlines.
- Max: What happens if a campaign doesn’t receive a public matching funds payment?
Loprest: Public funds payment determinations are not considered final until post-election so if the Board does not grant a public funds payment at one date, a candidate can remedy any issues and qualify for the next payment date. If a candidate believes an error was made based on the information already submitted, they can petition the Board for a review of the determination.
- Max: There is a lot of attention on whether, based on his federal indictment on alleged campaign finance related crimes and other reports of possible campaign fundraising impropriety, Mayor Eric Adams will be granted public matching funds for the 2025 election. What specifically will the CFB look at with regard to his case?
Loprest: Presuming Adams has met all of the other eligibility requirements, based on the facts alleged in the criminal indictment and its own audit reviews, the Campaign Finance Board could take several different actions.
It could deny payment of public funds entirely if it determines that there is sufficient evidence that serious violations of the Campaign Finance Act or Board Rules have occurred. It could invalidate matching claims associated with the various potential straw donor schemes, thus reducing the Adams campaign’s public funds payment. Or, it could withhold a portion of the public funds payment.
The Board will be looking at the facts presented in the indictment and its own review of the Adams campaign’s disclosure and documentation of its contributions and the campaign’s responses to the reviews the CFB sends after each disclosure statement. Again, all public funds payment determinations are preliminary until the final audit process where campaigns are given notice of potential violations and an opportunity to be heard.
By: Ben Max (Ben is the Executive Editor and Program Director of the Center for New York City and State Law at New York Law School.)