Photo: Queens Borough President Melinda Katz has submitted Queens’ budget priorities to Mayor de Blasio and the City Council. Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza.
Borough President Melinda Katz this week submitted Queens’ Fiscal Year 2016 expense and capital budget priorities to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council.
The recommendations, which were prepared by Katz’s budget staff and approved nearly unanimously earlier this month by the Borough Board, address issues that Katz, civic leaders and other stakeholders want to see included in the city’s adopted FY 2016 budget.
This information included oral and written testimony submitted during the Borough Board’s budget hearing on Feb. 23.
This year’s recommendations, according to Katz’s office, include: expanding Universal Pre-K funding; restoring borough presidents’ discretionary funding for senior services; increasing funding for Queens’ cultural organizations; ensuring the timely planning and rollout of the anticipated Five Borough Ferry System, including the Rockaway Ferry; increasing funding for transportation services for senior citizens; creating a Flushing Meadows–Corona Park police substation; creating and preserving more affordable housing in Queens; increasing capital funds for the construction and expansion of schools; creating a 116th Precinct by dividing the area covered by the NYPD’s current 105th Precinct into two sections; increasing the number of child care and Head Start sites in Queens; increasing expense funding to support weekend service at Queens Library locations; expanding Select Bus Service on Woodhaven Boulevard; and installing additional pedestrian countdown crosswalk signals, increasing the number of slow zones and assigning more police officers along high-traffic corridors.
“The recommendations included in this budget priorities document seek to provide a meaningful approach to addressing some of the longstanding issues faced by the Borough of Queens,” Katz said. “Our recommendations are intended to help craft a fiscally responsible city budget that will address the concerns of our diverse population of 2.3 million people and make Queens an even better place to live, work and visit.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
