Robert Mujica, New York budget czar and Cuomo holdover, stepping down to head Puerto Rico fiscal control board

ALBANY — New York’s long-serving budget czar is stepping down to become the executive director of Puerto Rico’s fiscal control board.

Robert Mujica — who has controlled the purse strings of the Empire State since being named budget director by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2015 — is departing the Hochul administration and will join the oversight board in January, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced on Thursday.

Mujica is replacing Natalie Jaresko, who resigned as executive director of the financial oversight board back in April, and will be making around $625,000 a year in his new role.

“Robert Mujica is a game changer,” said the board Chairman David Skeel. “He has the skills, the experience, and the passion to continue the Oversight Board’s work helping Puerto Rico to achieve long-term fiscal responsibility and implement the reforms necessary to create a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth.”

The federally mandated board is responsible for restructuring the commonwealth’s debt and developing a fiscal plan for Puerto Rico’s future.

Mujica, 49, was born in Brooklyn and is of Puerto Rican descent. He spent summers on the island as a child.

“It is a special place to me, and I want to see it prosper,” he said in a statement. “My work in New York was dedicated to fiscal responsibility, budgetary stability, transparency and economic growth. New York succeeded in all these areas. Puerto Rico can succeed, too.”

The fiscal guru was a constant presence alongside Cuomo at the former governor’s daily televised COVID briefings during the height of the pandemic and was one of only a few holdovers who remained when Gov. Hochul took the reins of the state last year.

Mujica has drawn criticisms from progressive lawmakers and advocates who often note his background working as a top aide for Republican leaders in the Legislature and his pushback against raising taxes on the wealthy. Opponents have also accused him of slipping austerity measures into state budgets and he took heat prepandemic for Medicaid-induced shortfalls.

He also serves as an ex-officio member on 30 state boards — including the MTA, CUNY, the Smart Schools Review Board, the Affordable Housing Corporation Board, the Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments, the Higher Education Capital Program Board and the Public Authorities Control Board.

In 2017, Mujica was with Cuomo on the first plane to land in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. He journeyed back to the island several times to assist with state aid and other relief efforts.

According to Skeel, the oversight board has already restructured almost 90% of Puerto Rico’s debt since being enacted in 2016. It has also certified budgets that ensure government spending “remains within Puerto Rico’s means.”

He added that he believes Mujica’s appointment to head the board will bring the group closer to its goal of fiscal stability for the problem-plagued island. “As our executive director, Robert will be a critical voice in helping to define those priorities and the path to a better future for the residents of Puerto Rico,” he said.

Hochul, meanwhile, heaped praise on Mujica and his team but did not name a replacement.

“I will continue to draw on Robert’s unique wisdom and expertise for years to come, but he has built a strong Division of the Budget that is full of dedicated public servants, and we’ll rely on them as we search for a new budget director,” she said in a statement.