What You Need to Know about Mayor de Blasio’s Executive Budget Proposal

Mayor de Blasio just released his Executive Budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2017 which proposes $82.2 billion in revenue, an increase of $100 million from his FY’17 preliminary budget. The City’s tax revenue growth is projected to slow down to 3.6% in 2016 and 1.9% in 2017. Tax revenue growth averaged about 7% over the past 5 years.

In a nutshell, here are the facts:

Expense Budget

Education

• $161 million in FY17 – growing to $310 million in FY18, with support from the State – to raise the Fair Student Funding level for all schools
• $17 million for the mayor’s “Equity & Excellence” education initiative
• $9 million in FY17 – growing to $40 million in FY19 – to ensure every elementary school is compliant with the State physical education mandate
• $5.6 million in FY17 – growing to $16.8 million in FY18 – to increase funding for Beacon programs that provide after-school and community services to 70,000 youth and 65,000 adults a year

Public Health

• $5.5 million in FY17 – growing to $11 million in FY19 – for a new, comprehensive effort to prevent and treat opioid addiction

Homelessness

• $66 million in FY17 – ultimately offset by $38 million in savings – for the administration’s comprehensive homeless services plan, focused on prevention and rehousing

NYC Health + Hospitals

• $160 million in FY16 in additional funding for NYC Health + Hospitals, part of a plan focused on ensuring the hospital system’s success
• The City is also forgiving $180 million a year in debt service for FY17 and out.

Mental Health 

Tripling of Intensive-Care Mental Health Units on Rikers Island:

• $8.7 million in FY17 – growing to $24.2 million in FY20 – to add and staff eight new Program to Accelerate Clinical Effectiveness (PACE) units
• $2.7 million starting in FY17 to expand pre-arraignment screening in Manhattan
• $2.5 million in FY17 – ramping up to $5 million in FY18 – to expand Hepatitis-C treatment in the City’s jails
• The budget also includes $1.9 million in capital funds to improve and speed up patient care through telehealth and 12 new mini-clinics

Others

• $1.5 million for vital Board of Elections reforms, with the potential for up to $18.5 million more

Capital Executive Budget

Sanitation

• $21 million for snow removal equipment
• A total of $685 million in capital funds in this budget and the upcoming Ten Year Capital Strategy to accelerate construction of the remaining shafts for the Brooklyn/Queens section of Water Tunnel No. 3

Public Safety

•  $70 million for a fully staffed 116th Precinct in southeast Queens

FDNY

• $5 million in FY17 – growing to $9.8 million in FY18 – for an additional 50 more ambulance tours
• $50 million for a new indoor swimming pool in Staten Island

Transportation

• Investing an additional $186 M to repave 1,300 lane miles in FY’18
• Investing $276 M for ongoing construction and maintenance
  • The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge
  • The Brooklyn Bridge
  • The Manhattan Bridge
  • Investing $42M to purchase 4 ferries and reconstruct a pier in Brooklyn Navy Yards
    • Maintenances of the ferries at the Navy Yard creates about 155 jobs

Coastal Resiliency

• Investing $505 M for storm water management infrastructure to complement the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project from Montgomery Street to East 23rd Street
• $27.5 million in City funds for the Two Bridges section of Lower Manhattan Protect and Connect flood protection

Others

• $122 million to fully eliminate the Water Board rental payment, providing $183 credits to 1-3 family households and $250 credits to eligible multi-family properties;

City Council’s Demands Met

• Increased Parks staffing–$12 million for FY17 to add more than 500 more Parks Department seasonal employees
• Adding $5.7 M in FY’17 growing to $16.8 M in FY’18 in all 80 Beacons and after school programs
• Adding $4.8 M social workers for 30,000 seniors
• $10 million in capital funds for land acquisition and design for two new full-service animal shelters in Queens and the Bronx

Not included

• No Vision Zero or street redesign funding
• No expansion on fully funding summer youth employment

Next Steps

The City Council begins Executive Budget hearings on May 6th.

Helpful Links

These are some of the most important stats from the Mayor’s budget proposal.  You can view the full Executive Budget and download all the available budget publications on the Mayor’s website:

View the FY17 Executive Budget

• Read Mayor de Blasio’s Press Release: Fact Sheet: Mayor de Blasio Releases FY 2017 Executive Budget
• Watch the video of the Mayor’s budget presentation (YouTube): http://youtu.be/tp0b1z3xdvg 
• Read Transcript: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery: Mayor de Blasio Presents FY17 Executive Budget

Contact Us

Do you have questions about the Executive Budget? Our Legislative and Political Affairs team, led by Executive Vice President George Fontas, can help. Contact George at george@nullcapalino.com.

Our Legislative + Political Affairs Services