Add Queens District Attorney Richard Brown to the growing list of officials worried about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s executive budget. Brown, along with Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, Bronx DA Robert Johnson, Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, testified before the City Council about the proposed cuts.
“Since September 2001, we—the city’s prosecutors—have sustained cumulative cuts from the city totaling more than 20 percent—deep cuts that have presented significant challenges and that have had a profound impact on our operations and the level of essential services that we are able to provide to the residents of New York City,” Brown said.
Brown charges that cuts to his office will severely hamper the way prosecutors can put criminals behind bars. Brown is heavily opposed to a revenue sharing plan between the city’s DAs.
“As prosecutors, we cannot effectively plan for the years ahead because of continued uncertainty as to where we now stand fiscally. In the last analysis, the overall solution to our budget problems is not to take money from once office to help pay the legitimate expenses of another,” Brown said.
According to the Independent Budget Office, even if the Mayor’s proposal to add a combined $6.6 million in funding for “outer borough” DA Offices, Manhattan would still receive the largest share of city money dedicated to DAs.
