NYC leaders shake hands on $107b budget; deal includes child care for undocumented children

New York City Mayor Eric Adams reached an agreement Thursday with the City Council for an approved budget of approximately $107 billion for fiscal year 2024 that includes increased funding for jobs and youth apprenticeships, as well as innovative educational programs for public school students.

As part of the budget deal, the report says, the city is expanding access to the discounted Fair Fares MetroCard program, providing more meals for seniors and low-income New Yorkers, and extending hours of many early childhood education slots so working families can more easily enroll their children.

In addition, the budget leverages higher-than-expected revenue to restore and provide additional funding for libraries and cultural institutions, which will be funded at a higher level in fiscal year 2024. In addition, no City of Education Department public schools New York (DOE) will have a lower initial budget than last year's initial budget, even if its student population has decreased, the report says.

“The agreement we reached comes in the midst of a budget cycle dominated by great challenges and unexpected crises, but I am proud to say that we have successfully navigated through these many rip currents to arrive at a strong and fiscally responsible budget,” Adams said. "Our mission isn't just saving money, it's setting priorities, including fair labor contracts for our unions, funding for education, the arts and our libraries, and support for New Yorkers most in need."

The Enacted Budget was crafted amid an ongoing migrant crisis that is currently projected to cost the City $4.35 billion during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, with an estimated spending of $2.9 billion during fiscal year 2024 alone. New York City said it has served more than 81,000 immigrants since last spring and, thus far, has received inadequate federal and state assistance. For this reason, the city added $465 million in FY 24 to offset lower-than-expected federal aid for asylum seekers.

Investment highlights from the adopted FY24 budget include:

NYC Cleanup

• Continue to increase the frequency of citywide trash can collection ($22 million).
• Funding for the New York City Department of Sanitation's highway cleanup program, which includes a focus on cleaning highways, medians, and highway shoulders throughout the city ($9.6 million).
• Increase funding for the CleaNYC program, which cleans streets and sidewalks in specific corridors ($3 million).
• Expansion of neighborhood-based community navigators in Gun Violence Prevention Task Force districts ($1.9 million).

Support to Libraries and Cultural Institutions:

• Provide funding for beneficiaries of the Cultural Institutions Group and the Cultural Development Fund ($40 million).
• Additional funding for public library systems ($36 million).

Help for Young People and Working Families:

• Enhance the workforce to support salary increases for contracted human service providers ($40 million, increasing to $90 million in FY25).
• Increased annual funding for the Right to Counsel program ($36.6 million in FY24 and $30.6 million annually thereafter).
• Add 5,000 slots to “Work, Learn and Grow” to provide Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) participants with employment during the school year ($22.5 million).
• Increase baseline funding for fair rates to expand criterops ($20 million, bringing baseline funding to $95 million).
• Funding for 600 PromiseNYC child care spaces for undocumented children and their families ($16 million).
• Convert nearly 1,900 vacant standard early childhood education seats to extended-day seats so working families can use them more effectively ($15 million).
• Help City University of New York (CUNY) students overcome barriers and complete their degrees by adding funding for the Accelerate, Complete, Engage, and Accelerated Study in Associate programs ($14.1 million).
• Ongoing support for Community Schools, a vital resource that supports the whole child in and out of the classroom, including the provision of school-based health services, and the child's family with adult education classes and access to social services ($14 million).
• Provide free MetroCards for SYEP participants this summer ($11 million).
• Add 400 slots to the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development's year-round youth workforce programs for out-of-school, out-of-work youth, bringing total capacity to 1,739 slots ($6.6 million) .
• Continued funding for the DOE's Immigrant Family Engagement program , which helps parents who do not speak English or are outside of the nine standard translated languages ​​to communicate with schools about their children's education ($4 million).
• Provide New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity with access to an online marketplace for local grocery stores through the "Groceries to Go" program ($5.6 million).
• Increase the reimbursement rate for senior home-delivered meals ($4.5 million).
• Funding for existing CUNY programs such as "College Now," "CUNY Explorers," and "Career Launch" ($5 million).
• Provide funding for K-12 arts education ($4 million).
• Help connect New Yorkers to apprenticeships, improve the city's workforce development system, and establish a new community hiring program as authorized by recently passed state legislation ($2.7 million).
• Increase funding for Housing Navigators to connect runaway and homeless youth with safe housing ($1.6 million).

Improved health and safety:

• Support swim education in neighborhoods without access to public pools by funding 70 full and part-time aquatic specialists, five recreation supervisors, 30 lifeguards, equipment, pool rentals, and DOE pool access ($5.3 million).
• Continue investment in the Mental Health Continuum as part of the Adams Administration's Mental Health Agenda ($5 million).
• Invest in trauma recovery centers to support the recovery of neglected crime victims and stop cycles of violence ($2.4 million).