Mayor Mamdani's Commission on Government Efficiency approved five ballot questions Thursday for the November election, covering outdoor dining, bike lanes, city contracting, waterfront permitting, and a 12% reserve target — drawing criticism from the Citizens Budget Commission and Council Speaker Menin's office over the fund's lack of deposit requirements and the speed of the commission's work.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) voted Thursday to send five charter amendment questions to November's ballot, ending a compressed weeks-long process that drew pushback from the City Council speaker's office and a leading municipal budget watchdog before the proposals even reached voters.

The five ballot questions — which require a majority yes vote to take effect — would: cut the outdoor dining and public-space approval timeline by an estimated 75 percent; streamline nonprofit and small-business procurement and give the mayor new authority to delegate certain contract approvals to agencies; speed up street-safety projects, including bike lanes, by simplifying the existing multi-agency review; move waterfront permitting from the Department of Small Business Services to the Department of Buildings while centralizing a construction-permitting hub; and set a target of 12 percent of city tax revenue for the city's reserve fund, where no mandated target currently exists.

That last question drew the sharpest technical objection. Andrew Rein, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission, said in a statement Thursday that as written "city policy could allow withdrawals for practically any reason and avoid deposits even when revenues are strong," calling it "deeply disappointing" that the commission did not pair the reserve target with rules that would actually require the city to hit and maintain it.

Patrick Gaspard — a Mamdani campaign advisor named to chair COGE — led the commission's 16-member panel, which also included former Partnership for New York City Chair Kathy Wylde, DC 37 executive director Henry Garrido, and former Council Member Carlina Rivera.

Council Speaker Julie Menin's office did not endorse the outcome. Spokesperson Henry Robins said in a statement the Council was "concerned by the speed and process through which the administration advanced these Charter Revision Commission proposals," adding that the commission "developed a series of sweeping changes to city government with far-reaching implications for oversight, transparency, and public accountability" in a matter of weeks — a notably shorter timeline than prior charter revision commissions.

COGE held public sessions across all five boroughs before releasing its final report earlier this week. About 1,200 people attended the sessions; 250 testified and 625 written submissions were filed.

The ballot questions land in context: on Wednesday, a Staten Island judge upheld Mamdani's decision to disband the charter review commission former Mayor Eric Adams launched on his final day in office, though an appeal remains possible. That ruling cleared the field for COGE as the sole active charter vehicle headed into November.

Voters now hold the decisive vote on whether any of it becomes law.