New York City Council passes record $101 billion budget deal
NEW YORK -- In a late night vote, the New York City Council passed a record $101 billion budget deal.
The final approval came around 11 p.m. Monday, after reaching an agreement with Mayor Eric Adams last week.
Following an hours-long debate, the council passed the spending plan by a vote of 44-to-6. The chair of the financial committee said in a statement, "This budget is a down payment on New York City's comeback - not the way it was, but the way it should be."
Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman admitted while not perfect, the budget will help communities thrive as they recover from COVID.
"This budget creates a robust pathway to address the way we approach health care, housing, public safety," she said.
In a statement, the mayor proclaimed, in part, "This is a 'get stuff done' budget that delivers on key shared priorities."
It includes expanding the New York City earned income tax credit by $250 million to put more money in working families' pockets, boosting the city's reserves to $8.3 billion -- the highest level in city history -- adding $3 billion to the labor reserve in anticipation for negotiating labor agreements, and adding funds for public safety resources.
The fine print also includes expanding the summer workforce program, increasing funding for trash basket pickup, and adding more dollars for new homeless shelter beds.
A contentious part of the budget gives $90 million more to the NYPD.
"Although we don't see dramatic decreases, one of the biggest things that we did was ensure that we didn't see excessive growth," said Councilmember Nantahsa Williams.
Williams said it was one of the most transparent budget processes the city has ever had.
But backlash began even before it was passed, with people protesting cuts to the Department of Education, which is losing $600 million. The mayor says it's because of a slowdown of federal pandemic-related aid and loss of student enrollment.
"I can 100% say that we are really looking at ways to ensure the schools, especially that have the greatest needs, are not underserved in this budget," Williams said.
The City Council actually got this done early, ahead of the July 1 deadline.