Quick Answer: On New York City public work, prevailing wage rates are set by the NYC Comptroller — not NYSDOL — under Labor Law §220’s fiscal officer rules. The Comptroller publishes new schedules effective every July 1, enforces through its Bureau of Labor Law, and can withhold contract payments, charge interest on underpayments, and pursue debarment. Contractors working both city and state projects must run two different rate schedules, correctly, at the same time.
Two Fiscal Officers, Two Schedules
New York Labor Law Article 8, §220 requires prevailing wages and supplements on public work. Who sets the rates depends on where the project sits: for most of the state, the fiscal officer is the NYS Commissioner of Labor, and rates come from the NYSDOL schedule. For a city of more than one million people — New York City — the fiscal officer is the NYC Comptroller, whose Bureau of Labor Law publishes its own prevailing wage schedules at comptroller.nyc.gov, effective July 1 each year.
The schedules are not interchangeable. Classifications are defined differently in places, supplement (fringe) rates diverge, and annual increases take effect on different dates during multi-year projects. A contractor pricing a Department of Education job off the NYSDOL schedule can be wrong on day one.
Section 220 vs. Section 230: Construction vs. Building Service
Article 8 (§220) covers construction-type labor on public work. Article 9 (§230) separately covers building service employees — cleaners, security guards, elevator operators, maintenance staff — under public contracts over $1,500. The Comptroller publishes separate schedules for each. Contractors holding both construction and service contracts with city agencies need both, and misclassifying service work under the wrong article is a recurring audit finding.
City rates, State rates and federal rates are three different schedules
A contractor running City-let work alongside State work is managing two sets of titles and two sets of rates, and the classifications do not always map onto each other. Pay a worker off the wrong schedule and the underpayment compounds across every hour on the job before anyone notices.
We work with contractors running public jobs across all three. Call 631-349-1661 or send us the details and we will give you a straight answer.
Certified Payroll on NYC Projects
Labor Law §220-j requires certified payroll reports on public work — hours, classification, wages, and supplements for every covered worker. Both systems are going electronic: NYSDOL’s electronic certified payroll system took effect for state-schedule work, and New York City is standing up its own online certified payroll database for city public-work contracts solicited on or after December 31, 2025. Practically, a contractor spanning both jurisdictions now maintains two electronic submission workflows with different formats and cadences — one more reason payroll setup errors compound quickly. Our guides to NYSDOL certified payroll submission and what triggers a public work audit cover the state side.
What Enforcement Looks Like
The Comptroller’s Bureau of Labor Law investigates complaints and audits certified payrolls. Under Labor Law §220-b, the fiscal officer can direct the contracting agency to withhold from contract payments the amounts needed to cover underpaid wages and supplements, plus interest and civil penalties. Interest on underpayments can run as high as 16% per year, and willful violations carry debarment exposure: two willful final determinations within six years — or one involving falsified payroll records — bars a contractor from public work for five years. Because withholding comes out of current contract receivables, a wage finding is a cash flow event long before it is a legal conclusion.
A Worked Example: The July 1 Trap
A contractor wins a two-year city agency renovation starting in May. It prices labor off the schedule in effect at bid time: a trade rate of $58.00 wages plus $42.00 supplements. On July 1, the new Comptroller schedule raises the package by $3.25. With 12 workers averaging 35 hours a week on the project:
- Underpricing if the increase was not built into the bid: 12 × 35 × $3.25 ≈ $1,365 per week, roughly $65,000 per year of margin erosion
- Underpayment if payroll was never updated: the same amount owed to workers — plus interest at up to 16%, plus the audit that finds it
Multi-year public work bids need the scheduled increases priced in, and payroll systems need the July 1 change executed on time, every year.
Common Mistakes
- Paying NYSDOL-schedule rates on a city contract, or vice versa
- Missing the July 1 schedule change mid-project
- Classifying building service work under Article 8 instead of Article 9
- Treating supplements as optional when cash wages exceed the total package — wages and supplements are separate obligations with annualization rules
- Certified payrolls that do not reconcile to the general ledger and payroll registers
FAQs
How do I know if my project uses the Comptroller schedule?
If the contracting agency is a New York City agency and the work is public work in the five boroughs, the NYC Comptroller is the fiscal officer. State agency work — even inside the city, such as certain state authority projects — can follow different rules, so confirm the fiscal officer per contract.
Where do I find the current NYC schedule?
The Comptroller’s wage schedule page publishes the current §220 construction and §230 building service schedules, effective July 1 through June 30.
Do apprentice rates work the same on city projects?
Apprentices must be individually registered in a NYSDOL-approved program and paid within ratio; otherwise journeyman rates apply. See our apprentice registration and ratio guide.
Can the city really hold my contract payments?
Yes — §220-b withholding is directed against amounts due on the contract, and it happens while the investigation is pending, not after.
Who is liable for a subcontractor’s underpayments?
Prime contractors face real exposure for subcontractor violations on public work, which is why prime-level certified payroll review of subs is standard practice on well-run jobs.
The supplement side of the schedule has its own math — our guide to the supplemental benefit rate per hour covers annualization and the credit computation.
Run Both Schedules Cleanly
We manage certified payroll for contractors on NYSDOL- and Comptroller-schedule projects — provider-neutral, reconciled to your books, and audit-ready. Talk to us before the next July 1 catches a live project. Related reading: Davis-Bacon vs. New York prevailing wage.
Finding the right schedule. The comptroller schedule that governs a job is tied to the project’s Prevailing Rate Case (PRC) number — get that identifier wrong and every rate downstream of it is wrong too.
Talk to an accountant who works in your industry
Precision Accounting & Consulting works with contractors, law firms, medical practices and property owners across the country. If something on this page raised a question about your own books, send it over and we will give you a straight answer.