New Council increases body’s budgetary power and responsibility, while securing Council record of $1.1 billion in program and service funding during budget negotiations to achieve greater balance in safety priorities

City Hall, NY – Speaker Adrienne E. Adams, Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan and Mayor Eric Adams announced an agreement on a $101 billion budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. The FY 2023 budget outlines the Council’s vision and commitment to increase its budgetary power to hold agencies accountable, while securing a Council record of $1.1 billion during city budget negotiations to invest in communities for key programs and services.

The FY 2023 budget includes many of the Council priorities to invest in communities to make New Yorkers safer. These include expansion of key youth programs, expansion of housing access programs, a property tax rebate for small homeowners, restoration of parks and sanitation cuts, and investments in community safety programs, including the creation of a new Speaker’s initiative, the Community Safety and Victim Services Initiative. These priorities were outlined in the Council’s Fiscal Year 2023 Preliminary Budget Response.

The Council also ensured fiscal responsibility by curbing the growth of wasteful criminal justice system spending. It largely held the New York Police Department (NYPD) budget flat compared to the FY ‘22 adopted budget by finding savings of $65 million from the executive budget ($5.59B) to the adopted budget ($5.53B). The minimal year-over-year increased expenditure was driven by non-discretionary labor agreements with existing commitments. The Council also eliminated the Executive Budget’s proposal to increase the Department of Correction (DOC) headcount by 578 positions at a time when agency staff are chronically absent and conditions have worsened at Rikers, with a federal judge threatening to place it in receivership.

The Council secured 18 new units of appropriation (U/As) in its negotiation, historic for the Council in budget negotiations. It negotiated the creation of new U/As for the NYPD for the first time in Council history, establishing six new units (a nearly 50% increase to 20 U/As) that will provide the ability to ensure better transparency and accountability for the NYPD budget. It also doubled the number of U/As for DOC, from four to eight. The establishment of new U/As represents the Council expanding the use of its budgetary powers in a new way that facilitates better control and oversight of agency spending. The budget agreement also includes 60 terms and conditions, a record-breaking number for city budgets, that will require transparency and oversight into public safety, education, human services, and more

“This Council secured historic reforms, bringing greater transparency to ensure communities are being met with the services they deserve,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “By stepping into our budgetary powers to hold agencies accountable and strengthening oversight, we will uplift the priorities of New Yorkers and advance an equitable recovery for all. We will continue our work as a Council to ensure this budget realizes our shared vision of a safer, healthier, and stronger city. I thank Chair Brannan, our Budget Negotiating Team, and all Council Members who engaged in this process, as well as Mayor Adams and his administration for their partnership.”

“This budget is a down payment on the comeback of New York City. From day one, we said our recovery would require real and meaningful investments in every community. We knew we couldn’t cut our way to prosperity, so we doubled down on what matters,” said Council Member Justin Brannan, Chair of the Committee on Finance. “We are a city of communities and, now more than ever, hardworking New Yorkers from Soundview to SoHo, from Dyckman Street to Dyker Heights wanna know their elected officials are working overtime to make their lives better. The City Council heard this clarion call and fought hard to deliver a prompt budget with both record investments and record reserves – a budget that puts money directly into our communities and back into the pockets of working families. A budget that leaves no one behind from our seniors to our students. I’m proud of my colleagues and the dedicated finance team who spent countless hours, late nights, and weekends working behind the scenes on this budget. I thank Speaker Adams for fostering an incredibly transparent and collaborative negotiation process and Mayor Adams and his team for recognizing our shared priorities of a stronger, safer, fairer, and more prosperous city for all.”

Council priorities secured in the FY 2023 budget agreement include:

INCREASING BUDGET ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY

Units of Appropriations:

The FY23 Budget Deal includes 18 new Units of Appropriation (U/A) that have been prioritized by the Council, a historic amount to be added as part of budget negotiations. Highlights include:

  • First-ever NYPD U/As added by Council, with an unprecedented six (6) additions – a nearly 50% increase that brings the total NYPD U/As to 20; they include PS and OTPS U/As for Patrol, Communications, and Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
  • Four (4) in DOC – Including jail operations, and health and mental health programming. 
  • Four (4) in HRA (Human Resources Administration) – A long standing priority of the Council, relating to reporting on Fair Fares and Domestic Violence Services.
  • One (1) in Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) – Runaway and Homeless Youth
  • One (1) in Department of Buildings (DOB) – Enforcement and inspection.
  • One (1) in Department of Education (DOE) – Student transportation.
  • One (1) in Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) – Committee on Special Education placements.

Terms and Conditions

Highlights include:

  • NYPD Overtime Reporting
  • DOC Reporting on Sick Leave and Unstaffed Posts
  • Cultural Grant Reporting
  • Detailing of Department of Sanitation (DSNY) litter basket pick-ups, school organics, and public waste containers
  • Information on City Doula Services
  • DYCD Runaway/Homeless Youth and Saturday Night Lights Utilization Data

PRIORITIZING HEALTH, SAFETY & HUMAN SERVICES

  • Cost of Living Adjustments for Human Service Providers to increase salary adjustment for human service workers: $60 million
  • Expand B-HEARD: $55.3 million
  • New Family Home Visits Program: $30 million
  • Increase mental health support and outreach for unhoused individuals: $19.3 million
  • Mental Health Continuum to help students with significant mental health challenges access direct mental health services in school and connect students to other services throughout the City: $5 million
  • Hate crimes prevention and support for affected communities: $5 million
  • Maternal Medical Home and Obstetric Simulation: $3 million
  • Eye Care Pilot Program: $1.4 million toward pilot program providing free optometry services to low-income New Yorkers.
  • Community Safety and Victim Services Initiative: A new Speaker’s discretionary funding initiative that provides each Council Member with $100,000 to invest in holistic safety by supporting local community safety programs. The funding recipients will be chosen by the local Council Member, and can be distributed to youth, housing support, health, mental health or other local programs that strengthen communities, or victim service providers.

INVESTING IN EDUCATION AND YOUTH

  • Summer Rising Program: $277 million
  • Expanding Summer Youth Employment Program to 100K slots: $79.4 million baselined
  • Contract Enhancements for Wage Increases for Special Education and Day Care Providers: $46 million  
  • Expand Career and Technical Education: $33.4 million
  • Childcare for Undocumented Families: $10 million
  • Double the slots for Work Learn Grow to 4,400 jobs: $19.7 million
  • Fair Futures: $18.8 million for a total program budget of $30 million
  • Community Schools Funding to restore $9.2 million cut by DOE and add funding to support new schools: $14 million
  • DOE Community Coordinators to support unhoused and immigrant students: $5.1 million.
  • City University of New York (CUNY) Reconnect pilot program to help working-age adults attain a degree that expands earning potential – at all CUNY campuses, serving 10,000 students in its first year: $4.4 million
  • Provide Additional Supports to English Language Learners: $11.2 million
  • CUNY Remediation: $2 million
  • CUNY STEM to support programming at campuses citywide: $1 million
  • Education Equity Action Plan to implement citywide kindergarten-to-high school Black studies curriculum: $10 million
  • Low Income Childcare Voucher: $9.2 million
  • Creation of New York State’s first two trauma recovery centers to support underserved victims of crime: Approximately $2.5 million

ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS & INCREASING ACCESS TO HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

  • Expanding City FHEPS to fully fund and increase the rental voucher rate to match Section 8 levels: $237 million
  • Expand Funding for Drop-in Centers, Safe Haven Beds, and Stabilization Beds: $171.3 million
  • Protect Working and Middle-Class Homeowners with a Property Tax Rebate: $90 million
  • Providing Prevailing Wage for Shelter Security: $65.8 million
  • HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) Single-Room Occupancy: $33.8 million to meet needs and privacy for HASA recipients.
  • Additional staff and services at Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD): $19.2 million
  • Client Service Staffing and Systems Upgrades for Benefits and Housing Assistance: $5.8 million
  • Restore Source of Income Unit staff and funding at CCHR: $452K
  • Expand the Office of the Tenant Advocate: $569,905 for office needs.

ACCESS TO BENEFIT PROGRAMS & SERVICES TO SUPPORT COMMUNITIES

  • Fair Fares program to assist low-income New Yorkers with public transit costs: $75 million baselined
  • Infrastructure and support funding for the City’s three public library systems: $67 million
  • Emergency Assistance Grants: $40 million
  • Support for Cultural Organizations: $40 million
  • Emergency Food Assistance Program: $30 million for a total program budget of $52 million
  • Seamless Meal Transition for Older Adults Using GetFood Recovery Meals: $15 million
  • Language Access Expansion: $8.6 million
  • Adult Literacy Program Enhancement: $6.7 million
  • Immigrant Family Engagement: $4 million
  • Low Wage Worker Initiative: $2 million
  • Workforce Development Centers: $1.7 million

MAKING NEW YORK GREENER & CLEANER

  • Parks Department Maintenance and Summer Workforce: $44.1 million
  • Litter Basket Service: $22 million for litter basket pickup throughout the City.
  • Enhance the School Organics Collection Program: $9.2 million
  • Restore Sanitation Funding
    • Precision Cleaning: $7.46 million
    • Lot Cleaning: $4.9 million
    • Rat Mitigation: $4.8 million.
    • Street Cleaning: $1.9 million
    • E-waste Collection Restoration: $1.4 million.
  • 50 Urban Park Rangers: $4.1 million
  • Organics Drop-Off Sites: $3.5 million
  • Zero Waste Schools Educational Program & Stop’N’Swap Program: $2.9 million
  • Green Thumb Gardens: $2.6 million.
  • Forest Management: $2.5 million.
  • Enhance Office of Building Energy and Emissions: $2.4 million
  • School Playgrounds: $2.25 million to keep school playgrounds open citywide
  • Tree Stump Removal: $2 million.
  • Public Waste Container Pilot: $1.28 million

ADDRESSING AGENCY OPERATIONS & GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY

  • Enhance Department of Investigation (DOI) Staff to combat corruption: $1.6 million
  • Small Business Residence Fund grant program for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) to find relief, assist them in competing against others in their industry and to encourage hiring from surrounding communities: $75,000
  • Rainy Day Fund: $750 million to be added, bringing to a grand total of $1.95 billion.
  • General Reserves: Added $500 million in FY 2023 for a total of $1.6 billion and $200 million in FY 2024 – 2026 for a total of $1.2 billion in each year to protect against drastic cuts.

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