What de Blasio's Progressive Budget Looks Like

Mayor Bill de Blasio presented a $78.3 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2016 Thursday, offering the most robust road map to date of his progressive values.

The budget includes $54 million in new mental health services, $36 million for an anti-violence program at Rikers Island and $700 million to increase the city’s rainy-day fund to a billion dollars. The administration says it will also save $2.5 billion this year and next, including over $1 billion in health-care savings negotiated with the city’s unions and $530 million in efficiencies at city agencies.

The 2016 executive budget increases spending by 4.4 percent increase over 2015, although the administration says much of that increase is the result of federal aid for Sandy-related projects and pre-payment of various expenses. The city is required to have a balanced budget and it does, though some out-year gaps have grown. 

The mayor's presentation dovetailed with de Blasio's broader 10-year capital budget, which details the city’s proposed borrowing for long-term infrastructure projects over the next decade. Among the biggest-ticket items: $7.5 billion for building or preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing, $12.6 billion for roads and bridges, $657 million for the MTA’s Capital Plan (which continues to face a significant gap), $14.7 billion for the water and sewer system, $13.5 billion for schools, and $902 million for libraries, among other things. 

Taken together, the two plans present the fullest picture yet of how the de Blasio administration aims to make good on its main policy goals: affordable housing, turning around struggling schools and reducing the city’s record-breaking homeless population. It also addresses concerns such as how to stem the scourge of rats across city neighborhoods.

It comes as de Blasio takes his ambition to be a standard-bearer for progressive values to the national stage, giving speeches in the heartland and penning an op-ed with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren headlined “How to Revive the American Dream.”

The next phase of de Blasio’s national tour comes Tuesday, when he heads to Washington, D.C., to join other elected leaders and advocates in a progressive “Contract with America.”

The budget documents are the most concrete policy articulation of how he plans to execute his goals here in New York City – and what support he needs from the state and federal government. The plan also touches off a new round of negotiations with the City Council, which must approve a final budget before the start of the fiscal year on July 1.

Preparing for an uncertain future

As the mayor changes the shape of city services, he says he’s also preparing for less favorable economic conditions. The budget includes a new $500 million fund to allow the city to better plan for large infrastructure and construction projects. The city is also boosting its rainy day fund to $1 billion, up from $300 million in February, and is increasing a trust fund for retired public workers, from $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion. 

Here are some details on major city services:

POLICE

The budget proposal does not include money for 1,000 new police officers requested by the City Council for two years in a row, even though Police Commissioner Bill Bratton also asked for them this year. The mayor stressed he's confident in the NYPD with the resources it has now, thanks to top leadership and reform measures like retraining the whole department, reducing the overuse of stop-and-frisk and changing how officers handle low-level marijuana offenses. But the mayor did make clear that he is open to ongoing conversations with the Council and NYPD. 

"The Police Commissioner is confident that there will be an increase in the size of the force," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis said in a statement citing the expected completion of a study of the department. Davis also said discussions with the mayor's officer are ongoing.

EDUCATION

Throughout the year, de Blasio has railed against the state for failing to meet its obligation under the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement by $2.6 billion.

The mayor already announced his proposed addition of $34 million to the education budget for helping low performing schools.

But anti-hunger advocates and City Council leaders were upset that his executive budget did not include money so that all schoolchildren could eat lunch for free, instead of just low income students. They also wanted the city to allow all students to pick up breakfasts they could take to their classrooms, if they miss out on the universal breakfast program offered before school starts.

The argument for universal free lunch goes like this: while three quarters of city children are eligible for free lunch, about a third of them don't participate. This could be because their families don't turn in the forms, or possibly because of the stigma of being seen eating in the cafeteria while other kids go out for lunch.

The Council lost the same battle last year, when it tried to add $24 million to the budget for universal free lunch. The administration did, however, provide free lunch to all students in middle schools that only serve grades 6-8.

"The results are mixed so far, in terms of the impact it's having," de Blasio said Thursday. "The additional number of children taking who are advantage of it has not been that large so far." He said he wants to study the middle school program for one more year.

But the group Community Food Advocates questioned the mayor's math. The group released a chart showing an 8 percent increase in the number of middle school students eating school lunches from September to December 2014, compared to the same four months of 2013. Since elementary and high school participation remained flat, the group said the increase must be related to universal free lunch in middle schools.

Meanwhile, as lobbying heats up before the final budget is adopted in June, Department of Education spokeswoman Devora Kaye said, “We appreciate the efforts and collaboration of the City Council and other elected officials, advocates and school communities to move this forward.”

TRANSPORTATION

The budget allocates $657 million over five years for the MTA’s capital plan. That money is meant to help the MTA with its long-term building and state-of-good-repair projects, like the Second Avenue Subway; plus it allows for buying new trains and buses. The MTA, which is facing a large gap in its own capital plan, says the city should be contributing more.

The budget also includes $250 million to overhaul safety on four of New York City’s most dangerous streets: Fourth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, Grand Concourse in the Bronx, and Queens Boulevard.

And there’s $4.9 million to increase half-hour service on the the Staten Island Ferry to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In other areas:

NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY

• The city is waiving $30 million payment in lieu of property taxes.
• Later this month, the de Blasio administration is expected to unveil NextGen, a blueprint that will outline a menu of proposals to make NYCHA more economically sustainable and safer for its 403,000 residents.

HOMELESSNESS

• $100 million to move 7,000 families out of the shelter system using rental subsidies.

INDUSTRIAL

• Nearly triples funding for the city’s industrial service providers

BROADBAND

• $70 million commitment over 10 years to broadband in the city, with most of the money spent in the first 2-3 years

SMALL BUSINESS

• $43.9 million in spending on small business programs, up from $25.3 million

HEALTH

• $3 million to expand a pilot program that fights rats