New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council sealed the deal on their last budget Sunday, staving off some of the worst cuts to the city housing authority under the federal sequester.
The $70 billion budget, which does not include tax increases, kicks in $58 million for New York City Housing Authority to avoid most of 500 threatened layoffs — and saves 20 fire companies that Bloomberg’s proposed budget threatened to eliminate.
The budget adds $250 million for storm-resistance projects outlined in Bloomberg’s new climate change plan. It also keeps city pools open and restores $144 million for thousands of child care and after-school seats that were on the chopping block.
“It is never easy. The city has limited resources and seemingly unlimited demands on its services, and yet we have to come up with something that is fiscally responsible and balanced,” Bloomberg said.
The agreement, expected to be approved by the council this week, came in advance of a July 1 budget deadline for fiscal year 2014.
Council Speaker Christine Quinn has made touting deals for now eight balanced on time budgets a centerpiece of her mayoral campaign, although the city is legally required to balance its budget — campaign theme she echoed at the Sunday night announcement, where she and Bloomberg exchanged a kiss to mark the pact.
“If you focus on delivering, if you check the grandstanding at the door, you can get a great deal done,” she said.
The deal kicks the can down to the next mayor on some major financial issues — like up to $7.8 billion in retroactive pay that city workers’ unions say they are owed after working under expired contracts that won’t be settled during this administration. It projects a $2 billion deficit for fiscal year 2015.
Other mayoral hopefuls were quick to slam the budget.
“On his way out the door, Mayor Bloomberg shows us with this budget agreement that he has left the biggest question — expired labor contracts — for another mayor and another day. Explain to us again why he needed a third term? To pile up the mess?” said Controller John Liu. “The mayor stayed too long at the party, and history won’t forgive him.”
And Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said the budget should have raised taxes on the rich to pay for pre-K.
“Instead, it affirmed a status quo that continues to leave working families behind,” he said. “We need a game-changer, not another ‘budget dance’ that leads to the same predictable conclusion.”
Added revenue for the budget came from $200 million in debt service savings due to low interest rates, plus a boost in real estate tax collections.
The budget makes up for $58 million of the $205 million in federal funding NYCHA stands to lose from the sequester, enough to save 325 of 500 layoffs NYCHA had threatened. It also provides $13 million to other city agencies to take over community and senior centers that NYCHA would otherwise close, saving some additional jobs.
The deal does not affect federal cuts to the Section 8 program run by NYCHA, which could boot up to 1,200 families from the rent subsidy program and hike rent on others, or a $30 million cut to the authority’s capital budget.
The storm-resistance money will pay for coastal protection improvements on Staten Island, raising bulkheads in low-lying neighborhoods and a ferry landing in the Rockaways.
When asked how he felt presiding over his last budget after 12 years in office, Bloomberg refused to wax sentimental.
“Let’s keep focusing on the city budget and what we have together all been able to achieve,” he said briskly.
With Jennifer Fermino
