Friday, June 10, 2022

MAYOR ADAMS, SPEAKER ADAMS REACH EARLY HANDSHAKE AGREEMENT FOR A BALANCED AND RESPONSIBLE FISCAL YEAR 2023 BUDGET

 

Budget Prioritizes Public Safety, Uplifting City’s Youth, Helping Working Families, Improving Public Spaces, Boosting Affordable Housing, and Combatting Food Insecurity

 

Sets Aside $8.3 Billion in Budget Reserves — Highest Level in City History

 

Builds on Investments Administration Secured in Albany This Session, Including Major Expansion of Earned Income Tax Credit and Historic Funding for Childcare


 New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, New York City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, and members of the City Council today announced an agreement for an early and balanced city budget for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23). The budget protects the city's fiscal health by building record levels of reserves — more than $8.3 billion — and making prudent investments that support an equitable recovery and that make New York City safer, more prosperous, and a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

 

“At this critical moment for our city, this budget delivers early on the issues that matter most and makes the investments that will improve the lives of millions of our fellow New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “With upstream investments to promote public safety, give young people real opportunities, provide relief for working families, improve our public spaces, boost affordable housing, combat food insecurity, and so much more, this budget promotes an equitable recovery for New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs. At the same time, we are protecting New Yorkers from the unexpected and building on the fiscally responsible approach our administration has taken throughout the budget process by increasing reserves to the highest level in city history. This is a historic agreement, and I thank Speaker Adams, Finance Chair Brannan, and our colleagues in the Council for their partnership and for ‘Getting Stuff Done’ for all New Yorkers.”

 

The agreement on the approximately $101 billion budget builds on fiscally responsible planning by the Adams administration throughout the budget process. It includes a number of new and expanded investments, including investments in low-income and immigrant childcare vouchers, as well as in adult literacy. To help keep public spaces clean, the budget adds resources for additional litter basket service, a waste containerization study, lot cleaning, and rat-resistant litter baskets. And out of a mutual commitment to parks equity, the agreement funds additional Urban Park Rangers, tree stump removal, and improvements to the city’s community gardens and forested areas.

 

The budget additionally includes an annual contract adjustment to help human and legal services providers who were on the front lines of the pandemic, relief to property owners with a property-tax rebate, and funding for the city’s Cultural Development Fund and Cultural Institutions Group.

 

The administration and City Council also partnered this year to secure first expansion of the New York City and State Earned Income Tax Credit in 20 years and $4 billion in childcare funding.

 

Given the importance of planning for the future, the administration and City Council have agreed to deepen their commitment to building reserves; boosting them to $8.3 billion  the highest level in city history. This budget adds $750 million to the Rainy-Day Fund, $750 million to the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, and $500 million to the General Reserve. There is now $1.9 billion in the Rainy-Day Fund, $4.5 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits Trust, and $1.6 billion in the General Reserve, as well as $250 million in the Capital Stabilization Reserve.

 

Separately, almost $3 billion has been added to the Labor Reserve over the financial plan in anticipation of negotiating labor agreements with the entire represented workforce. In total, the Labor Reserve has been replenished by nearly $4.7 billion over this budget cycle.

 

Driven primarily by growth in personal income taxes related to a record level of Wall Street activity, the city’s tax revenue forecast has been revised upward over the Executive Budget estimate by just under $3 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) and nearly $1.5 billion in FY23. These revenues allowed the city to increase reserves to a record level and reduce the FY23 budget gap by prepaying expenses.

 

Outyear gaps are manageable, and the budget reflects almost $300 million in savings over FY22 and FY23, bringing total savings achieved by this administration over those years to more than $2.7 billion and $4 billion in financial plan outyears. Additionally, the budget reflects more than $250 million in pension savings in FY23.

 

Highlights of this year’s budget include:

 

Public Safety is a Prerequisite to Prosperity

  • Resources for the Subway Safety Plan, including funds to expand the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) initiative, and the addition of 1,400 new Safe Haven and stabilization beds by mid-2023 ($226 million in FY23).
  • Expansion of the Precision Employment Initiative to connect as many as 3,000 individuals at risk of participating in gun violence with green jobs ($54 million in FY23).
  • Resources for New York City Department of Correction dyslexia screenings ($1.5 million in FY23).

 

Supporting Human and Legal Services Providers

  • Baseline contract adjustment for human and legal services providers who were on the front lines of the pandemic ($60 million).
  • Increase access to benefits for New Yorkers in need by expanding capacity of community-based organizations ($14 million in FY23).

 

Improving Education and Expanding Career Pathways for Young New Yorkers

 

Boosting Working Families

 

Supporting Cultural Institutions

  • Add resources for the city’s Cultural Development Fund and Cultural Institutions Group ($40 million in FY23).

 

Providing Clean and Safe Public Spaces

 

Investing in Affordable Housing

  • Support for the New York City Housing Authority and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development affordable housing programs ($5 billion in capital funds, bringing the city’s investment in affordable housing to a record $22 billion).

 

Fighting Food Insecurity and Improving Nutrition

  • Increase funding for Emergency Food Assistance Program ($30 million in FY23, for a total investment of $53 million).
  • Launch the Groceries to Go pilot program to provide New Yorkers living with food insecurity with access to an online marketplace for local grocery stores ($10 million in FY23).

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