De Blasio Lays Out Priorities For 2020 New York City Budget
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Mayor Bill de Blasio put forth the city's initial budget plan for 2020, highlighting his familiar priorities while promising $1 billion in savings over the current fiscal year.
He says his $92.2 billion preliminary budget reflects what he calls three challenges: Uncertainty in Washington amid the threat of another government shutdown, potential cost shifts and cuts from Albany and a possible economic slowdown.
"We now forecast that the Fiscal Year 19 personal income tax revenue is projected to be about $935 million less than last year," said Budget Director Melanie Hartzog.
Mayor Bill de Blasio Budget Presentation
"We well may have to limit some of our investments or slow down some of our investments or in fact cut some programs and some investments outright," said de Blasio.
READ: City of New York Preliminary Budget Fiscal Year 2020
Among the issues de Blasio highlighted were:
- Healthcare for 600,000 uninsured New Yorkers through a $100 million ramp up for NYC Care, due to launch in the summer of 2019.
- Half-price MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers with $106 million toward the Fair Fares program.
- A total of $5.3 million for NYPD Crisis Intervention Training for patrol officers confronting mental health related emergencies.
- Adding $25 million to the pre-K for 3-year-olds program, expanding into new districts in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
- Putting $2.7 million toward speeding up bus service by 25 percent by the end of 2020, with green light priority at 300 new intersections.
The mayor says city agencies were able to find $1 billion in savings and also more in healthcare savings, but in addition to that, in the next two months the city must find $750 million in savings combined from each city agency.
One way he says will be to expand the hiring freeze.
"Not just where there are vacancies, but on our use of attrition, and where there is attrition there will not be a guarantee that lines will be filled or filled immediately," said de Blasio. "There will be exceptions for vital services."