RECOVERY BUDGET: MAYOR DE BLASIO, SPEAKER JOHNSON, AND CITY COUNCIL REACH AGREEMENT ON THE FISCAL YEAR 2022 ADOPTED BUDGET

 

The Recovery Budget is a radical investment in working families that builds on strong reserves

 Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Finance Chair Daniel Dromm and members of the City Council today announced an agreement on the Recovery Budget, an on-time balanced City budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22). The foundation for the $98.7 billion Recovery Budget is the strategic investment of stimulus funds that will drive New York City’s economic comeback and build a recovery for all of us.

 

"The Recovery Budget is a radical investment in working families. It will drive economic growth in every neighborhood, all while building on strong reserves and investing stimulus funds aggressively to put the pandemic behind us, once and for all,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “This budget is a historic investment in New York City and it’s exactly how we will achieve a recovery for all of us.”

 

The Recovery Budget meets five core goals: finishing the fight against COVID-19, building on strong reserves, boosting economic growth in every neighborhood, delivering an academic and emotional recovery for every student, and keeping all communities safe.

 

Finishing the COVID Fight

 

A recovery for all of us begins with fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The City has spent more than $8 billion in the fight against COVID-19, administering over 9.2 million vaccination doses. The City’s aggressive and equity-driven grassroots vaccination campaign has driven down COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to the lowest levels since the pandemic began. The Recovery Budget includes funding to finish the fight against COVID and strengthen the City’s public health infrastructure in the long-term.

 

In this Recovery Budget, the administration promoted public health by expanding the grassroots vaccination campaign and making investments to establish New York City as the public health capital of the world. That mission includes support for LifeSci NYC, a billion-dollar commitment over the next decade to create an estimated 40,000 jobs in this fast-growing sector.  

 

Building on Strong Reserves

 

Before New York City became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, the City had maintained record levels of budget reserves that were needed in the midst of the pandemic induced financial crisis to help balance the budget, prevent layoffs, and avoid disastrous cuts to critical programs and services. In Adoption the administration partnered with the City Council to add $500 million to the City’s first-ever Rainy Day Fund, which now holds nearly $1 billion. With $2.8 billion in reserves added since June, total reserves in FY22 are now $5.1 billion, with $3.8 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, $993 million in the Rainy Day Fund, and $300 million in the General Reserve. At their highest, NYC reserves totaled $6.1 billion at the peak of the economic cycle in Fiscal Year 2020.

 

The de Blasio administration has remained focused on strong fiscal management and savings, even when revenues were strong. The Adopted Budget achieves $4.0 billion in savings over Fiscal Years 2021 (FY21) and 2022 since last June – the second largest two-year savings total at Budget Adoption of this administration.  

 

Tax revenues exceeded expectations in FY21 by $2.1 billion, driven by personal income tax and corporate tax receipts. The tax revenue forecast for FY22 remains unchanged from the Executive Budget.  

 

Boosting Economic Growth

 

The Recovery Budget drives an economic recovery for all of us, boosting growth in every neighborhood.  The previously announced Executive Budget made a $30 million investment – the largest in city history – to promote tourism. It also offered direct support for small businesses, including grants, low-interest loans and commercial lease legal assistance. The New Deal-inspired City Cleanup Corps (CCC) is on pace to hire 10,000 New Yorkers this summer to clean and beautify our city. All of these investments are already driving economic growth.  

 

The Adopted Budget deepens these investments in economic growth by committing $11 million to NYC Business Quick Start, a program that will help slash red tape and help guide small businesses through City regulations.  

 

The Recovery Budget also includes the Juneteenth Economic Justice Plan to build generational wealth and tackle the racial wealth gap by:

• Expanding NYC Kids Rise with Universal NYC Baby Bonds, a program that gives every kindergartner a college savings account with at least $100 this September ($15M in FY22)
• Establishing four-year CUNY Scholarships at full scale for Black and low-income students ($4M in FY22)
• Providing paid internships in science, business, public health, and the green economy for students at Medgar Evers College to pair academic pursuits with an opportunity to make change and help our city recover ($500,000 in FY22)  

 

Lastly, As New York City recovers from the COVID recession and grapples with an evolving economy, the Recovery Budget will help hundreds of CUNY students and graduates advance toward career success--while boosting the short- and long-term outlook of our City’s economy:

• CUNY Career Initiative: The Department of Small Business Services will work with CUNY and a set of industry partners to deliver short-term training in high-demand fields leading to job placement for approximately 1,000 New Yorkers ($6.5M in FY22)
• Advanced Manufacturing Career Collective (AMCC): AMCC will create a pipeline of skilled, diverse talent into advanced manufacturing careers through educational and work-based learning experiences. The effort will engage and train an estimated 400 students in year one, scaling up to support over 1,000 New Yorkers annually. AMCC will also strengthen the overall ecosystem of MWBEs focused on advanced manufacturing ($4M in FY22)

 

Driving Academic Recovery 

This Recovery Budget makes crucial investments in New York City’s public schools to support students’ academic and social emotional needs as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic.  

This year, the administration established a path to universal free 3-K for All by fall 2023, expanded early childhood special education and Restorative Justice for Social Emotional Learning in middle and high schools, and strengthened special education services.

To support students and families over the summer, the administration launched Summer Rising – the first-ever summer program for all New York students in grades K-12 who wish to participate. This program will lay the groundwork for a full reopening this fall, providing students with a comprehensive summer experience that includes rigorous academics, social emotional supports, and fun enrichment programming. 

Also, the administration is launching the Universal Academic Recovery Plan, a bold, rigorous framework that will guide school communities and support student achievement during the 2021-22 school year and beyond.    

Building Recovery through Public Safety

Since last June, the administration has added more than $44 million to expand Cure Violence and the Crisis Management System. The NYPD has re-deployed an additional 200 officers performing administrative functions to the field full time, specifically assigned to high violence commands.  

In the Adopted Budget, the administration has made targeted investments to break the cycle of incarceration and reduce gun violence. This budget uses housing and employment as an anti-violence measure. That effort includes:

• Creating the Precision Employment Initiative to hire 1,000 people this summer in Mott Haven, Brownsville and South Jamaica who are most at-risk– violence prevention via employment and support services. ($24M in FY22)
• Providing reentry housing with healthcare and employment counseling for justice involved New Yorkers returning to the community ($57M in FY22)
• Expanding “Jails to Jobs” to provide more formerly incarcerated individuals, including those on State parole, with transitional employment ($6.6M in FY22)
• Providing peer mentorship for incarcerated individuals and those who are reentering with Crisis Management System Credible Messengers ($5M in FY22)
• Expanding the CMS-based Hospital Violence Intervention Program into new hospital locations to support victims of violence and their family and networks ($6M in FY22)
• Expanding CMS Services in the 40th and 44^th Precincts in the Bronx and providing additional CMS supports ($6M in FY22)

 

This is in addition to mental health and public safety investments from the Executive Budget including: expanding mental health crisis response citywide, expanding mobile treatment teams, community-based hate crime prevention and investments in the Advanced Peace program.