Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“After two years of struggle, we are on the brink of a recovery that offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real change on a grand scale,” Mayor Adams said.
By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams recently released the City’s $98.5 billion Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2023.
Adams noted that his first budget reduces the FY23 budget by $2.3 billion while also making “historic investments” to support public safety, young New Yorkers, childcare, and working families.
The budget advances Adams’ Blueprint to End Gun Violence to reduce crime across the five boroughs. Until increasing levels of gun violence ends, New York will not be the best city in the world to raise a family, open a business, or visit. This will delay the city’s recovery and, therefore, New Yorkers’ prosperity.
The Adams administration is using the City Police Department’s existing resources more efficiently to redeploy officers to subway platforms and onto trains and create Neighborhood Safety Teams, anti-gun squads focused on reducing gun violence around the city.
To support the Blueprint to End Gun Violence and give young New Yorkers a platform for success, the administration has added 30,000 Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) slots — increasing summer job opportunities to 100,000. This increase not only marks the first time the program will be funded annually, but also represents the largest number of jobs made available by SYEP in the program’s 60-year history.
The Adams administration has also baselined funding for Fair Futures, which provides young New Yorkers who are aging out of foster care with mentoring, tutoring, and more.
In the FY23 preliminary budget, the Adams administration has focused its new investments on lifting the lives of working families and giving young New Yorkers a platform for success. As such, the FY23 budget:
- Puts more money in families’ pockets by expanding the New York City Earned Income Tax credit (to $250 million in FY23),
- Baselining the funding for 100,000 summer jobs for city youth, including 90,000 in the SYEP ($79 million in FY23 for a total baselined investment of $236 million),
- Helping low-income New Yorkers afford Metro Cards by guaranteeing annual funding for the Fair Fares program ($75 million in FY23),
- Conducting comprehensive health screenings, regular home visits, and referral services for first-time moms in the 33 neighborhoods hit hardest by COVID-19 with the New Family Home Visits program ($30 million in FY23),
- Creating more childcare space with a property tax abatement for property owners who retrofit property ($25 million in FY23),
- Helping parents get back to work with tax credits for businesses that provide free or subsidized childcare ($25 million in FY23),
- Preparing youth for aging out of foster care with mentoring, tutoring, and other important services with Fair Futures ($13.5 million in FY23), and
- Reducing maternal deaths and childbirth complications and provide care coordination to high-risk patients with Maternal Medical Home and Obstetric Simulation Training ($3 million in FY23), among other things.
“After two years of struggle, we are on the brink of a recovery that offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real change on a grand scale,” Adams said. “We are cutting spending, making government run more efficiently, investing in public safety, and providing much-needed help to working families across our city. The steps we are taking together will make New York a safer, more just, and more prosperous city for all.”
