The two candidates running for city Comptroller didn’t go head-to-head as much as they showed how much they overlap during Tuesday’s final televised debate hosted by THE CITY, NY1, WNYC and other partners.

Vying for the role of the city’s fiscal watchdog are Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and City Councilmember Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn).

They both agreed that the city funnels too many dollars to outside consultants instead of to public school classrooms, said pension funds should not be invested in cryptocurrency, and wanted to use the office to create more affordability to everyday New Yorkers.

“The city is spiraling out of reach for working families, and our budget is the sharpest tool we have to bring down the cost of living for you and your family,” said Brannan, who represents Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge and Coney Island and chairs the Council’s finance committee.

“I’ll use the powers of the office to fight and win on behalf of New York,” said Levine, who was previously a City Council member representing Manhattan’s Upper West Side and West Harlem.

As the city’s chief financial officer, the comptroller oversees the city’s $112 billion budget. The office is up for grabs because current Comptroller Brad Lander is running for mayor and not seeking reelection.

The duties of the comptroller — along with a staff of more than 700 people — include reviewing most city contracts, auditing agency spending, issuing bonds and managing the city’s five pension funds, which total $280 billion. The comptroller often acts as a check on the mayor.

Each candidate agreed that “bold” solutions were needed to move the needle for families in New York City and insisted they could use pension funds to increase investments in green energy and housing development without endangering the city’s ability to achieve its goal of a 7% return for retirees. To that end, Levine proposed investing pension funds to help finance 70,000 affordable homes, while Brannan proposed investing half a billion dollars over eight years to launch a universal child care system. (The comptroller must win approval of the board of trustees of each fund for any investment changes.)

Though both Levine and Brannan have expressed the importance of fighting President Donald Trump and defending the city amid threats to slash its federal funds, they took different approaches on how to do that.

In the past, Levine proposed adding $1 billion to the city’s $8 billion reserve funds to protect against potential federal cuts, which he reiterated during the debate without naming a number. Mayor Eric Adams has resisted adding to the reserves despite calls from Lander and fiscal groups, including the Citizens Budget Commission and the Independent Budget Office.

On the other hand, Brannan proposed investing in the city’s most vulnerable communities that would be most affected by cuts.

“We can’t run a city on reserves,” Brannan said. “If you want to add to the reserves, that means you have to cut somewhere.”

Levine also said he wanted to organize “blue city and blue state” pension funds around the country to “use our collective power to say to CEOs, ‘You can’t give in to the Trump agenda, you can’t abandon commitments to diversity, or climate or worker safety,’” he said.

Weighing in on advocacy that pushed public pension funds to divest from Israel amid its war in Gaza, Levine said he would buying Israeli bonds for the pension fund. Brannan didn’t specifically respond to that idea, but he said that he opposed divesting from companies that benefit from Israeli policies. When asked to clarify if the two disagreed about purchasing Israeli bonds, Brannan said, “No, we don’t. He just wants to disagree.”

There were a few brief moments of sparring during the debate.

While Brannan touted his role in helping to City of Yes for Housing Opportunity — an overhaul of citywide rezoning rules to help spark more housing development — Levine hit back that Brannan also secured carveouts for his district.

Brannan said those exemptions only applied to certain parts of Bay Ridge that experienced flash flooding. (Other areas of the city also experience flash floods, and a flood map is forthcoming that will serve to restrict where basement apartments can be built.)

In response to many reader and viewer questions about the city’s plan to switch its retirees’ healthcare plan to Medicare Advantage — which some retirees have said offers worse coverage at higher costs — in order to save hundreds of millions of dollars, the two candidates also diverged in their approaches. 

“Medicare Advantage is a scam,” Brannan said. “Retirees, whatever health care plan you signed up for on the first day you started working — that is the retirement plan that you should retire with the city of New York should not be balancing its budget on the backs of retirees.”

Levine took a more measured stance, saying he’d make a decision based on “the details of the plan in consultation with retirees, with current workers, with labor leaders,” but noted that retirees should have “plans for zero s” and “outstanding healthcare.”

The two men traded barbs when Brannan noted his for a bill that would preserve retirees’ health care plans, and invited his opponent to do the same.

Levine shot back that Brannan only became a sponsor of the bill “a matter of days ago, after resisting for years and years and years. This is an eleventh-hour conversion for purely political reasons.”

“Why did you wait three years?” Levine asked Brannan.

“Why didn’t you sign on to the bill?” Brannan countered.

Levine has raised $1.25 million and has received $3.5 million in public matching funds, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Brannan trails with $834,400 raised and has received matching funds of $2.5 million.

Levine and Brannan participated in the debate as “leading contenders,” determined by fundraising and spending thresholds the Campaign Finance Board set.

State Sen. Kevin Parker of Brooklyn and Ismael Malave Perez, who works at the Department of Citywide istrative Services, will also appear as candidates on the Democratic primary ballot.

There will also be a Republican primary for comptroller later this month but candidates Peter Kefalas and Danniel Maio, both of Queens, have reported minimal fundraising and do not qualify for official debates.

Early voting starts June 14, with the primary election set for June 24.

Additional reporting by Greg David.