Jeffrey Shear - Deputy Commissioner, Treasury & Payment Services - DOF

Department of Finance


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Jeffrey Shear
First Deputy Commissioner

As the Department of Finance’s first deputy commissioner, Jeffrey Shear is responsible for overseeing the agency’s Property, Audit & Enforcement, Tax Policy, Information Technology, and Employee Services divisions.

Jeff began his career with DOF in 1985, working first for the Audit and Enforcement Division and later serving as chief of staff to the first deputy commissioner and as deputy assistant commissioner for the Collections Division. He returned to the department in 2014 after a successful tenure with the New York City Department of Education, where he oversaw the capital and space planning of the city's 1,200 school buildings, including a $500 million effort to build science labs in high schools.

Key DOF initiatives completed under Jeff’s leadership include the Forgiving Fines and FAIRER (Fine and Interest Reduction Enabling Recovery) amnesty programs, which produced $45 million and $47 million in revenue respectively while abating penalties and interest for New Yorkers with environmental control board judgment violations. He and his team have also reduced the number of tax liens sold each year, developed property tax and interest deferral (PT AID) payment plans for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, and started sending out warning emails to motorists whose vehicles may soon be at risk for booting due to unpaid parking tickets.

Jeff’s writing has been published in Government Finance Review, and he was a member of the city’s Task Force on the Tax Lien Sale Process in 2016 and 2021. He holds a B.A. in government from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.