Photo: Mayor de Blasio last Thursday presented the $78.3 billion Fiscal Year 2016 Executive Budget. Courtesy of Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office.
Mayor Bill de Blasio last Thursday presented the Fiscal Year 2016 Executive Budget, detailing the $78.3 billion plan as one that involves “a strategic approach to strengthen the city’s future, boosting reserves and securing key agency efficiencies and savings to protect against economic uncertainty, while targeting investments in core programs and initiatives.”
De Blasio noted that every independent rating agency affirmed “fiscal responsibility” as a foundation of his administration.
“[T]his year’s budget continues to build on that strong foundation,” he said.
Budget highlights include: $54 million in FY2016—growing to $78 million in FY2017 and out—for more effective, inclusive, and coordinated mental health services for the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including in Renewal and Community Schools, family shelters, and on Rikers Island; $33 million a year to eliminate the Housing Authority’s annual Payment in Lieu of Taxes; $100 million in FY2016 for homeless prevention and assistance, including rental support, anti-eviction legal services, and more; $4.7 million in FY2016 to expand the number of shelter beds for runaway and homeless youth by another 100, while enhancing mental health services; income adjustments for roughly 35,000 non-profit workers who will receive a 2.5 percent wage hike and make at least $11.50 per hour.
Public safety measurements in the plan include: $36.4 million for the Department of Correction, funding a 14-point anti-violence plan for Rikers Island that includes initiatives such as a canine program to keep weapons and drugs out of the jail, a strategy to separate inmates likely to fight, and increased inmate services; $1.8 million for the NYPD to expand the ShotSpotter gunshot detection program to 28 precincts total; $5.2 million for the Department of Transportation to continue Vision Zero implementation, including for signal retiming, corridor and intersection redesign, and maintenance of roadway markings; $2.9 million for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to expand to neighborhoods citywide a successful pilot program to eliminate rat reservoirs.
Economic development highlights in the FY2016 Executive Budget include: $12.8 million for the Department of Small Business Services to support local businesses and promote equitable growth, including support for women entrepreneurs, help existing businesses to expand, and support local manufacturing; $4.9 million for DOT to create half-hour service on the Staten Island Ferry 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Future investments: $50 million in new support for 130 Community and Renewal Schools, including for intensive tutoring, mental health and substance abuse counseling, summer programs, and more advanced placement classes; $114.3 million for Pre-K for All, complementing the $300 million in state funding secured earlier this year and supporting 70,000 high-quality, full-day seats; $163 million in for an expansion of middle school after school programs, serving 107,000 middle schoolers; $11 million for CUNY to expand the ASAP program with a focus on STEM education.
The Executive Budget must be approved and adopted by the City Council by June 30. Some officials last Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the plan.
“It’s extremely disappointing again that Mayor de Blasio refused to add much needed resources to the historically unfunded Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs—an office charged with serving New York City’s 230,000 veterans and their families,” said City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), chairman of the Veterans Committee. “This is the second consecutive year that the council has called on the administration to bolster veterans’ services in the budget and once again the mayor has turned a deaf ear.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
