The $98.7 billion budget includes $500 million in new reserves and major investments in education, housing and quality of life
City Hall, NY – Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Committee Chair Daniel Dromm, and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $98.7 billion budget agreement for the Fiscal Year 2022 that includes major investments and restorations in education, seniors, youth and quality of life enhancements like sanitation services. The budget will baseline successful Council programs that have been shown to help New Yorkers, and will reverse painful cuts felt across the City, including in our parks, cultural institutions and libraries.
The FY 22 budget, which was on time and goes into effect at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, was negotiated with a focus on rebuilding, recovering, and reimagining the City in a more fair and equitable way. It will be voted on at the Council’s stated meeting on June 30. This will be the first in-person Council stated in 16 months.
The FY 22 budget includes over $426 million in city-wide initiates, a welcome increase from last year’s $331 million. This allowed the Council to not only restore many programs to pre-pandemic levels, but also launch new initiatives and increase support for key programs in areas such as alternatives to incarceration, housing, foreclosure prevention, senior services, community development and help for small businesses.
The Council also fought for and won an additional $500 million in budget reserves. That money will be deposited in the new Rainy Day Fund Balance to bring it up to almost $1 billion. This fund was created in 2020 by the Council in response to recommendations from the Charter Reform Commission. This is the city’s first multi-year reserve account. It was created to allow the city to build up reserves in a more transparent way.
“No one could have predicted the challenges this city has faced since our last in-person stated 16 months ago, nor the progress we have made to overcome the pandemic and reopen. This budget is focused on rebuilding, recovering and reimagining our City in a more fair and equitable way. Once again, this Council negotiated a fiscally-responsible budget that helps all New Yorkers now and in the future. That was our commitment three and a half years ago when I became Speaker and I’m proud of this legislative body’s work to pass on-time and balanced budgets every year in good times and bad,” said Speaker Corey Johnson.
“I’m very proud of this budget and what it will do to help NYC recover from the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This budget will help us fortify our health care systems and allow our local nonprofits to continue serving those in need. Additionally, this budget restores almost every funded organization back to FY20 funding levels. I am also proud of the funding I was able to secure in the budget for LGBTQ organizations which for years have been overlooked and underfunded. Most importantly, we put $500 million in the new Rainy Day Fund to offset any future crisis. On a personal note, this is my last budget as Finance Chair and I would like to thank Speaker Corey Johnson for all the faith he has placed in me. I also want to thank all the members of the Council Finance Committee team for putting in long days and nights to make this happen.” said Council Member Daniel Dromm, Chair of the Committee on Finance.
The FY 2022 budget includes:
Major investments in education and youth
· One hundred percent Fair Student Funding: This historic level of resources will provide $607 million in additional Fair Student Funding so that every single public school in the City will receive 100 percent of their Fair Student Funding allocation.
o Fair Student Funding is the primary funding source for school budgets and allows school principals the discretion to spend these funds on school essentials such as pedagogical staff, enrichment programs, and support staff.
· Additional Education Investments:
o $18 million for a class size reduction program;
o $24 million to increase the rate paid to the Summer Rising providers;
o $9 million to make community schools whole and $5 million to add ten new community schools;
o $2 million for the LGBTQ curriculum;
o and $10 million for the education equity curriculum;
o and $26 million for a citywide literacy curriculum to help students read at grade level and address the learning loss created by virtual learning.
· Support Students for a Better Tomorrow: The budget will include $160 million for universal summer school, $22 million to expand special education pre-kindergarten, $19.7 million to restore College Access for All, and $500 million to support programs such as small group tutoring to help our students recover from the impact of the COVID-19 education setbacks, and to set them up for success going forward.
· Expand Social Workers in Schools: The FY 22 budget adds $81.1 million for 650 positions to the Department of Education to ensure that every school has access to a mental health professional.
· Mental Health Continuum: DOE will provide $5 million for direct mental health support to students in a mental health continuum as recommended by the Mayor’s Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. This continuum of services in high need schools would give students with significant mental health needs access to direct mental health services and behavioral supports so they can remain in school.
Quality of life
· Improving Sanitation Services: The budget included $20 million in sanitation services pushed for by the Council, including $7 million to expand organic drop-off sites, $4 million to fully fund the commercial waste zone program, $451,000 to restore the syringe collection cut, and $1.8 million to start a Zero Waste organics pilot at schools and the New York City Housing Authority.
· Keep Streets Clean: In order to combat street litter, the budget will include $8.6 million for additional litter basket collection, $1.6 million to purchase 200 rat resistant baskets, and $935,000 for new public waste containers.
· Maintain our Parks: One thing that was confirmed during the COVID-19 pandemic was the importance of our Parks which were widely used for recreation and exercise and just a space to breathe and relax over the past chaotic year. This year’s budget will include $25 million to restore 150 Park maintenance workers, hire 80 Park Enforcement Patrol Officers, restore 15 Green Thumb staff, hire 50 Urban Park Rangers, maintain natural forests and trails, and remove tree stumps.
· Honor our Cultural Institutions and Libraries: The budget will restore the $10.3 million cut to libraries and the $30 million cut to cultural programs and the Cultural Institutions Grant subsidy that had previously been announced.
· Help Small Business Recover: The $100 budget will fund various programs to provide a lifeline to struggling businesses, and more than $5 million to restore the Commercial Lease Assistance Program.
· Safeguard our Furry Friends: The budget restores $3 million for the Animal Care Center.
New initiatives and increased support for key programs
· Hate crimes: In recognition of the abhorrent rise in anti-Asian hate incidents and the extreme impact of the pandemic on the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, the Council will create a new $4 million initiative called AAPI Community Support which will fund Asian-led and Asian-serving organizations to provide mental health services, racial literacy programs, anti-bias and hate crime work. Additionally, the budget includes $1 million for the Hate Crime Prevention Initiative, which supports community-based work aimed at preventing and responding to hate crimes, and $250,000 for Cure Hate, a program which supports swift, individualized responses to communities and victims of hate crimes, and will serve to heal communities and those affected by hate violence.
· Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Tech Initiative: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Tech Initiative: This $700,000 budget funding supports career readiness training for residents of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) pursuing careers in the technology industry.
· Digital Inclusion and Literacy Initiative: The budget will fund with $4.6 million this initiative that supports programing in each of the 51 Council Districts that provide computer-based training and learning, technical skill development, improve internet access, and offer free public streaming services.
· LGBT Community Services: The $4.7 million funding will support the outer borough LGBT Services Consortium, which works to increase coordinated delivery of health and human services for LGBT individuals and families in the outer boroughs of the city.
· Trans Equity Programs: This $3.3 million allocation will support a range of services to help empower the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community. Funding may support education programs, employment services, workforce development, healthcare navigation, legal guidance, community workshops, or academic research, among others.
· Children Under Five: A total of $2 million for programs which provide mental health treatment to children aged five years and younger. Some treatment activities may include screening and clinical evaluation; individual, small group, and child-parent psychotherapy; consultation to pediatricians, preschool teachers, and child welfare workers; and trauma-informed interventions.
· Geriatric Mental Health: Programs funded under this $3.4 million allocation initiative support organizations that provide a range of mental health services to older adults in non-clinical settings, such as senior centers, drop-in centers, religious institutions, social clubs, homeless prevention programs, and individual homes.
Alternatives to incarceration and investments to avoid criminal justice involvement
· Alternatives to Incarceration: Almost $14.5 million for programs which provide individuals involved in the criminal justice system with alternatives to pre-trial detention, jail or prison. The programs include community service and substance abuse counseling, as well as short-term and long-term housing, job placement, and vocational training.
o The Council enhanced the ATI initiative by $2.6 million in two years, including a $1.6 million restoration to the FY 20 level, and an additional $1 million enhancement.
· Over $70 million dollars have been put towards existing and new initiatives to support and expand public safety alternatives to policing and incarceration. These funds, which were announced as part of the policing reform package the Council passed in March, include:
o The expansion of Summer Youth Employment to a total of 75,000 slots with an addition of 5,000 new spots in summer 2021 for CUNY students.
o $14.5 million to fund a new mental health case management program to provide 850 people with mobile and site-based intensive, ongoing case management services in under-served communities.
o An additional $4.4 million to double FY2021’s available funds for Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) Teams, which serve those with recent and frequent contact with the mental health, criminal justice, and homeless services systems, recent behavior that is unsafe and escalating, and those who were poorly served by traditional treatment models.
· Crisis Management System: $2.9 million in Council funding will support the Crisis Management System, which supports community-based anti-violence work and helps us move away from policing as a solution to every problem. The Council funding is in addition to another $27 million, which will be added to the budget to fund Cure Violence programs as part of our agreement with the de Blasio Administration. Cure programs are part of the Crisis Management System. The $27 million is expected to double the cure violence workforce in calendar year 2021 and, with an additional administration funding in out years, triple the workforce by 2022.
Affordability and housing
· Foreclosure Prevention Programs: This initiative will receive $4.25 million for programs like the purchase of distressed mortgage notes, foreclosure prevention counseling and referral services, legal assistance, outreach, education, and advocacy around subprime lending and mortgage foreclosures.
· Stabilizing NYC: The $4 million in funding will help combat the loss of affordable housing at the hands of predatory equity companies, and to defend low-income tenants in predatory equity building from harassment and eviction, by combining legal and organizing resources into a citywide front against predatory equity, helping tenants hold their predatory equity landlords accountable for lack of repairs, bogus eviction cases, and affirmative harassment.
· Community Land Trust: This initiative that supports organizations that work on a neighborhood level to develop and expand the community land trust model citywide will receive $1.5 million in the budget. Community land trusts create and preserve affordable housing through nonprofit ownership of land.
Baselined and social safety net programs
· Adult Literacy Education: Fiscal 2022 baselines the Adult Literacy Initiative with $8 million. This program provides immigrant New Yorkers with the tools to achieve higher levels of literacy. There are more than 2.2 million adults in New York City without English language proficiency or a high school diploma.
· Work, Learn, Grown: Fiscal 2022 baselines this initiative with $9.7 million for the Council’s year-round youth employment program. Work, Learn, Grow helps participants build work skills and aptitude by launching them into the diverse work opportunities available, through direct exposure and access to a paid workforce program.
· Urban Advantage: A $3.5 million baselined allocation to support teaching science through partnerships with eight science-based cultural institutions.
· Prevent Hunger: The budget will include another $25 million for fresh food and community-based food pantries because nobody should go hungry in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
· Protect our Foster Youth: In order to continue the successful Fair Futures program that is making such a difference in the lives of so many foster youth, the budget will include $12 million for this program.
