The New York City Council in session | Photo by William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit via Flickr
NEW YORK – The New York City Council voted late last night to adopt the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 $101 billion budget, which it said: “reflects the Council’s commitment and vision to increase its budgetary power to hold agencies accountable while securing a Council record of funding priorities during city budget negotiations to invest in communities for key programs and services.”
The FY 2023 budget is the first that Speaker Adrienne E. Adams and a new Council class have adopted and has many of the Council priorities to invest in communities to make New Yorkers safe. These include expansions of essential youth programs, increased city funding for schools, development of housing access programs, a property tax rebate for working and middle-class homeowners, funding for parks and sanitation services, and investments in community safety programs. It includes the creation of a new Speaker’s initiative, the Community Safety and Victim Services Initiative. They have outlined these priorities 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 essentially held the New York Police Department (NYPD) budget flat compared to the FY 2022 adopted budget by finding savings of $65 million from the executive budget ($5.59B) to the adopted budget ($5.53B). Non-discretionary commitments from existing labor agreements drove the minimal year-over-year increased expenditure. The Council also eliminated the Executive Budget’s proposal to increase the Department of Correction (DOC) headcount by 578 positions when agency staff is chronically absent, and conditions have worsened at Rikers Island, with a federal judge threatening to place it in receivership.
“This Council secured historic reforms, bringing greater transparency to ensure communities are being met with the services they deserve,” said Speaker Adams.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that they adopted the budget early because “we leaned into areas of agreement, rather than disagreement.” He also said that the budget builds on the investments “we secured in Albany this year, including the first expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit in 20 years and historic investments in childcare.”
“At the same time, we are deepening the fiscally responsible approach our administration has taken throughout the budget process. The city has increased reserves to $8.3 billion — the highest level in history — to ensure we are well-prepared for the future,” Mayor Adams said. “In addition, we are replenishing the Labor Reserve in anticipation of contract negotiations later this year. This is a ‘Get Stuff Done’ budget that delivers on key shared priorities, and I thank Speaker Adams, Finance Chair Brannan, and our partners in the Council for their leadership.”
Meanwhile, Murad Awadeh, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), commended Mayor Adams, NYC Council Speaker Adams, Finance Chair Justin Brannan, and the New York City Council for investing in Adult Literacy, Legal Services, Workforce Development, and Language Justice for immigrant communities. However, he said in a statement that NYIC was “deeply disappointed” by the lack of investments in critical programs. Such as the Linking Immigrant Families to Early Childhood Education (LIFE) project and a pilot program would improve older students’ access to quality education, in addition to the $215 million reductions to the overall education budget.
“We must fund education at a level that ensures all have the opportunity to flourish and prosper, and cannot use a lack of Federal or State funding or fiscal prudence as an excuse not to do so,” Awadeh said. “Anything less damages New York’s ability to build a workforce ready to innovate and meet future demands, and hurts our chances to create an inclusive economy where every New Yorker can contribute and thrive.”
