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Average time between records disposal eligibility and application sent to Law Department (months)
Provide City agencies, non-federal courts and district attorneys with record storage, retrieval and record management services. — Dispose of all records according to their scheduled retention period.
This step of the records-disposal process got slower in fiscal 2024 (up to 1.3 months) largely as a side effect of DORIS's own success: the agency sharply ramped up the volume of records it was disposing of that year — up 350% — as part of an effort to reduce storage costs, and processing that much larger volume took client agencies longer on average. DORIS says continued streamlining brought the time back down to 0.6 months in fiscal 2025.
Researched July 15, 2026 — DORIS, Fiscal 2024 Mayor's Management Report, DORIS, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual | Target |
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 0.2 months | 2 months |
| FY23 | 0.7 months | 2 months |
| FY24 | 1.3 months | 2 months |
| FY25 | 0.6 months | 2 months |
| FY26 (YTD) | Not available | 2 months |
Why this is tracked
DORIS's Records Management Division operates off-site storage facilities holding roughly 1 million cubic feet of active physical records on behalf of New York City agencies, courts, and district attorneys' offices. When one of these offices needs a stored file, DORIS retrieves it from the warehouse and makes it available for pickup, with performance tracked by how many requests are fulfilled within 48 hours. It is an unglamorous but load-bearing function: courts and prosecutors' offices cannot operate without timely access to their own case records.
NYC Department of Records - About, DORIS Mayor's Management Report Indicator Definitions
Source: Municipal Records Management Division — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported quarterly.
Definition: The average time it takes the Department of Records and Information Services (DOR) to send a records disposal application to the Law Department for review and approval, calculated from the time a client agency has been notified by DOR that a record series is eligible for disposal; agencies must return an authorized disposal application to DOR after notification. Note: Data reported as Four-month Actual for this indicator reflects first-quarter information for this quarterly-reported measure.