New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council debuted a $101 billion fiscal year 2023 budget deal on Friday that includes a “record” $8.3 billion in reserves, thanks largely to growth in personal income taxes.
These numbers are preliminary, and won’t be finalized until the adopted budget documents are printed later this month. But based on press releases and the comments from Adams and Adams, here are some of the highlights of the deal:
$101 billion: The total expense budget. That will be the largest budget the city has ever adopted – though actual spending for fiscal year 2022 is estimated to come in at $101.7 billion. That’s $3 billion more than the $98.7 billion budget that was adopted last June.
$8.3 billion: The total allocated to the city’s reserves. That includes $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. But critics like the Citizens Budget Commission say the city should have gone further, saving more as revenue estimates increased.
$1.15 billion: Investments added since the executive budget was released, “representing nearly 90% of the total dollar figure of the priorities outlined in our budget response,” Adrienne Adams said. “That is an unprecedented outcome for this council.”
$226 million: Funding to promote public safety initiatives on the subways, including new teams of mental health emergency responders part of the “B-HEARD” initiative. The funding will also support 1,400 additional “Safe Haven and stabilization beds,” which offer wraparound services for homeless individuals.
$79 million: Money that will support 25,000 new youth summer jobs for a total of 100,000 slots, 90,000 of which will be part of the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program. This money was one of the first announcements out of the mayor’s office before he even announced his preliminary budget in February.
$75 million: This was another pot of money agreed to early on. The mayor and speaker announced in February that the budget would include $75 million for Fair Fares, the program offering discounted MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers.
$250 million: The funds will support an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit program, which is available to low- to moderate-income workers and families. It was a campaign priority for Adams.
$90 million: 600,000 eligible residents will receive a property tax rebate through this budget allocation.
$43 million: Upgrades to city parks. Though the total parks budget wasn’t immediately available on Friday afternoon, it will be below the 1% of the total budget commitment that the mayor made on the campaign trail.
$22 million: Funding for increased trash collection in city litter baskets, which the mayor’s office said will exceed pre-pandemic levels.
$22 billion: The budget for building and maintaining housing over the next ten years hasn’t changed from what the mayor proposed in the executive budget. Housing advocates – and the City Council – called for allocating $4 billion per year for this purpose, but didn’t get that request over the finish line.
$13.5 billion: Funding for “Fair Futures,” a program that provides youth aging out of foster care with mentoring, tutoring and other services. Adrienne Adams said the city added more than $18 million in funding compared to last year’s budget.
$100,000: A new “speaker’s initiative” will allocate this amount to each council member for “programs that strengthen their communities to make them safer or to provide victims services,” Adrienne Adams said. You can read more
here.
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