April 1, 2024

New York City Council’s
Response to the Fiscal 2025
Preliminary Budget andFiscal 2024 Preliminary
Mayor’s Management ReportRESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

Finance Division
Richard Lee, Director
Jonathan Rosenberg, Managing Deputy Director

Legal Unit
Kathleen Ahn, Counsel
Alan Lebowitz, Counsel, State and Federal Legislation
Michael Twomey, Assistant Counsel / Committee Counsel

Budget Unit
Chima Obichere, Deputy Director
Eisha Wright, Deputy Director
Elizabeth Hoffman, Assistant Director
Aliya Ali, Unit Head
Julia K. Haramis, Unit Head
Florentine Kabore, Unit HeadJack Storey, Unit Head
Daniel Kroop
Monica Saladi
Adrian Drepaul
Danielle Glants
Ross Goldstein
Sandra Gray
Saiyemul Hamid
Nia Hyatt
Owen Kotowski
Casey Lajszky
Andrew Lane-Lawless
Glenn Martelloni
Phariha Rahman
Michael Sherman
Tanveer Singh
Shayna Ortiz

Revenue and Economics Unit
Emre Edev, Deputy Director
Dilara Dimnaku, Chief Economist / Assistant Director
William Kyeremateng, Supervising Economist
Paul Sturm, Supervising Economist
Andrew Wilber, Supervising Economist
Hector German
Vincent Giordano

Discretionary Funding and Data Support Unit
Paul Scimone, Deputy Director
James Reyes, Unit Head
Savanna Chou
Carolina Gil
Emmanuel Afuape
Miguel Perez-Perez

Administrative Support Unit
Vanessa Diaz-Lopez, Operations Manager
Nicole Anderson
Maria PaganRESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

Table of Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 1
Council Financial Plan ............................................................................................................................ 5
Laying A Strong Foundation of Housing for New Yorkers and Families ....................................................11
Prioritizing Continued Access to Education and Learning ........................................................................15
Advancing A Healthy and Safe City ........................................................................................................24
Enhancing Institutional Pillars of NYC ....................................................................................................33
Strengthening Opportunity and Services ...............................................................................................36
Improving Transparency and Providing Savings .....................................................................................45
Appendix A – Proposed U/As ................................................................................................................48
Appendix B – Proposed PMMR Indicators ..............................................................................................55
Index ....................................................................................................................................................60RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

Executive Summary
The New York City Council presents its response to the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2025 Preliminary Budget andthe Fiscal Year 2024 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report. The Council’s response balances the needto place the City on a stronger foundation to address its major challenges, save key program funding, andprepare for economic uncertainties and risks. It restores the cumulative impacts of the Administration’s
consecutive series of cuts to programs, while mitigating the expiration of billions of dollars in federal
stimulus funds that supported essential services and addressing underbudgeted expenses in the Mayor’s
proposed budget.
On November 16, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams submitted the November Financial Plan for Fiscals 2024 to2027 (November Plan). At the time, the City recognized $9.93 billion in additional costs for Fiscals 2024
through 2027, including assumed risks to the budget stemming from the rising costs of sheltering asylum
seekers and uncertainties in the national and local economy. In order to partially offset these financial
risks, the Mayor announced the first of what would be three, across-the-board mandatory programs toeliminate the gap (PEG), requiring each City agency to provide budgetary savings equal to 5 percent of
their adopted city-funded budgets. Agencies were required to increase resources with minimal accounting
for how any cuts could affect provisions of City services. This PEG provided an additional $3.68 billion of
resources between Fiscals 2024 and 2025. These resources were accrued partially from reductions toessential services, such as a $1.15 billion reduction in funding for public schools, a $45.6 million cut infunding for library operations, and $17.31 million less funding provided to cultural programs.
On January 16, 2024, the Mayor submitted his Preliminary Financial Plan for Fiscals 2024 to 2028
(Preliminary Plan) including $109.44 billion in Fiscal 2025. The Preliminary Plan included a more optimistic
projection for the City’s fiscal outlook and the local economy. The Preliminary Plan recognized savings of$1.73 billion in Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 from the reduction of costs related to the sheltering of asylum
seekers – savings that were largely the result of a downward re-estimate of the asylum seeker census andefficiencies in contracting. The savings in asylum seeker costs were further buttressed by the assumptionof an additional $1.5 billion in support from the State for the City’s asylum seeker costs. The Preliminary
Plan’s recognition of better than anticipated economic output in Calendar Year 2023 resulted in a $2.9
billion increase in estimated tax revenue collections for Fiscals 2024 and 2025.
While still following through and instituting a PEG in the Preliminary Plan, the Administration exempted
select agencies from participating, lowered the PEG targets for other agencies, and initiated several
restorations to PEGs taken in the November Plan. The November and Preliminary Plan PEGs provided a
combined $6.58 billion of additional resources in Fiscals 2024 and 2025. The Preliminary Plan PEG included
expense reductions in Fiscals 2024 and 2025 such as: $41.3 million reduction in funding for CUNY, an
additional $19.2 million reduction in the City’s support for cultural institutions, and a $34.6 million
decrease in Parks Department expenditures. The PEG restorations in the Preliminary Plan totaled $65.8
million in Fiscal 2024, increasing to $123.6 million in Fiscal 2025 and included additional funding forstaffing at the Fire Department, the Police Department’s April uniformed academy class, and the jobs
training program managed by the Human Resources Administration (HRA). In addition, the Preliminary
Plan contained $4.55 billion of new needs and other adjustments in Fiscal 2024, including additional
funding for several key programs that the Administration historically underbudgeted at this time in thebudget cycle. This included an additional $100 million to fund Department of Education (DOE) Carter Cases
in Fiscal 2024, increasing by $200 million in Fiscal 2025, and $400 million in the last year of the financial
plan period, and an additional $265 million in Fiscal 2025 for the costs related to pupil transportation

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

increasing to $536 million in Fiscal 2028 – a budgeting policy that the City Council has advocated for inyears past.
The Mayor’s Preliminary Financial Plan leaves the initial impression that the City has finally reached theend of its period of budgetary challenges that began with the Fiscal 2023 budget. The Fiscal Year 2026
budget gap has decreased from $6.46 billion projected in the November Plan to $5.15 billion in thePreliminary Plan. The remaining gap is notable but could be closed in future financial plans without any
additional PEGs.1 Additionally, the Mayor announced the cancellation of the previously announced thirdround of PEGs. However, what is not evident in the Preliminary Plan is the accumulated impact of priorfunding reductions to key services, reductions that have not been offset or reversed in Fiscal 2025 andbeyond. Additionally, none of the spending restorations included by the City Council in the Fiscal 2024
Adopted Budget, some of which were part of the current year PEGs, were contained in the Mayor’s Fiscal
2025 Preliminary Budget.
On March 4, 2024, the City Council’s Committee on Finance held the first oversight hearing on thePreliminary Plan, laying out the Council’s framework by which the Fiscal 2025 Budget would be defined –a need for the resurgence of efficient and impactful City services that never recovered from the pandemic.
Throughout the remainder of March, 29 additional Council committees held public hearings evaluating
how the Administration’s budget impacts the delivery of key programs that serve New Yorkers and theCity. It is through the culmination of these detailed assessments and evaluations, and the considerationof public input, that the Council submits its Response to the Preliminary Budget (Budget Response).
The Council proposes a balanced approach in the Budget Response, recognizing financial risks that stillinfluence the budget while also appreciating the impact that agency service reductions have on the City’s
health. The City remains in the nascent stages of economic recovery; economic growth is still anticipatedto be slower than historical levels. The Council also recognizes the ongoing financial commitment the City
must make in responding to increased numbers of asylum seekers and creating pathways for theircontributions to strengthening the City.
The Council’s forecast identifies a combined $3.35 billion of additional tax revenues in Fiscals 2024 and2025 above the City’s estimate as presented in the Preliminary Plan. Additionally, the Council recognizes$2.25 billion of potential underspending and $550 million of in-year reserve funding in Fiscals 2024 and2025 that increases the total amount of additional resources available for Fiscal 2025 to $6.15 billion.
While recognizing the potential risks to the financial plan, it is critical that the budget reflects andaddresses the ongoing needs of New Yorkers. It is vital that the City’s budget provides for family andcommunity stability, improves the health and safety of New Yorkers, and expands opportunities, rather
than undermining the ability of agencies to provide essential services.
This response outlines the Council’s vision for the next year’s budget, recognizing the need to restore theefficient delivery of essential City services and preserve vital programs. The proposals that are outlined inthis Budget Response reflect the City’s shared values and priorities, with support from additional
resources that are identified in the Council’s revised revenue forecast and expense plan. The Council iscalling for approximately $1.63 billion in expense spending to offset cuts and deliver key programs, and1Over three-quarters of the $5.15 billion Fiscal 2026 gap could be offset by the $2.73 billion of additional tax
revenues in the Council’s tax forecast, summarized in Table 3, as well as the $1.45 billion of in-year budgeted
reserves.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT$500 million to be set aside in reserves to account for any unforeseen budgetary risks. The health, safety,
and well-being of our neighborhoods and economy are all linked to how we fulfill our mandated
responsibility to equitably provide services. The proposals prioritize policies that aim to move the city
forward together. The Council’s response is broken down into five areas:
Laying a Strong Foundation of Housing for New Yorkers and Families
Access to affordable housing plays a critical role in providing stability for families andneighborhoods. This is particularly important now as the City faces an affordability andhousing crisis. Many New Yorkers are faced with the difficult decision of either struggling toremain in New York City or relocate elsewhere. The City must create a pathway for stability
by prioritizing the development of stable housing of all types. It is critical for this to include
creating and preserving affordable rental housing, as well as affordable homeownership
opportunities. At the same time, the City must invest in the full spectrum of housing supports,
particularly for New Yorkers on the margins, committing to increased investments insupportive housing, rental vouchers, and services that assist in unhoused New Yorkers withtransition to permanent and stable housing. Finally, the City must address the needs ofhomeowners by taking steps towards property tax reform. The Council is recommending$56.7 million in expense spending and $1.32 billion in capital proposals to address thefoundational needs of all New Yorkers.
Prioritizing Continued Access to Education and Learning
Access to quality educational opportunities is one of the primary criteria families consider
when deciding where to live. For working- and middle-class families, the prioritization of
education begins with early childhood education, which is crucial in their ability to remain in
the city. Quality early childhood education programs facilitate foundational stability andeconomic advancement. The City must ensure that all families are provided with theopportunity to access appropriate early childhood education in both 3K and Pre-K. For
students in the City’s public kindergarten through grade 12 schools, we must ensure that weare investing in programs that broaden and support the full breadth of learning and growthpotential. The City must ensure that critical programs are continued to address historic,
pandemic-era learning loss impacting students as agencies deal with the expiration of federal
funds. As an engine of economic and social mobility, CUNY plays an integral role in providing
quality secondary education, completing the 3K to college pipeline. The CUNY system is facing
sizable deficits due to expiring federal funds and unfunded mandated costs. The City needs toensure the fiscal stability of this important institution and continue to provide for the many
programs that create upward economic mobility by providing an additional $860 million in
expense spending and $483.1 million in capital proposals to address these needs.
Advancing A Healthy and Safe City
Providing services to ensure the health and safety of residents is one of government’s main
obligations. Public health and public safety are intertwined, and to make the city safer andhealthier, we must prioritize support for evidence-based solutions to mental healthchallenges and recidivism. At the same time, many parts of the City still lack equitable accessto healthcare, which was highlighted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, theCity must invest in improving infant and maternal health to address the rising infant mortality
rate. Finally, promoting a healthy and safe city requires investments in the infrastructure ofmunicipal oversight and accountability. The Council proposes providing an additional $125.8
million in expense spending and $4.2 million in capital proposals to address the health andsafety needs of all New Yorkers.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

Enhancing Institutional Pillars of NYC
Parks, libraries, and cultural institutions are the fundamental pillars of our neighborhoods.
Our green spaces improve the physical and mental well-being of New Yorkers and serve as
venues for recreational activities and community-building. Similarly, our libraries are an
essential component of our communities, providing a wide range of critical services for New
Yorkers of all ages. New York City’s cultural institutions are world-renowned, providing
enrichment to all audiences while contributing to the growth of the neighborhoods in which
they reside. Additionally, these institutions contribute enormously to the City’s economy,
generating an estimated $22 billion in annual economic activity, and providing increased
patronage of local businesses. We must increase our commitment to these pillars, and theCouncil recommends including an additional $222.7 million in expense spending and $200
million in capital proposals in the budget for these services.
Strengthening Opportunity and Services
New Yorkers rely on a wide range of services provided by City agencies. However, over the
past few years, City agencies have fallen short of delivering this basic obligation due toinsufficient resources and support, understaffing, and high numbers of vacancies. The Council
has consistently called on the Administration to fill key vacancies that provide more staffing
levels and reduce delays and backlogs in services. The Administration must also take steps tobolster support for non-profit service providers, which have experienced delayed oroutstanding contract payments from the City that threaten their organization’s viability andability to deliver services. Investing in programs that provide New Yorkers with pathways toopportunity is also critical to the stability of our city and neighborhoods. The City Council
proposes an additional $361.7 million in expense spending and $451.5 million in capital
proposals in order to strengthen and improve the delivery of services.
The Council also repeats its call from last year’s budget response for increased transparency andaccountability in the Administration’s budgeting practices. The Council urges the Administration toappropriately fund programs that are historically not accurately funded at budget adoption. In addition,
the Council urges the Administration to discontinue the use of vague and overly broad units ofappropriation (U/A), and to instead utilize smaller units of appropriation that properly present
programmatic expense spending as required in the City Charter. This is necessary to improve public
understanding of agency spending, restricting the opportunity to transfer substantial amounts of funds
between programs without oversight. For the same reasons, the Council calls upon the Administration to
improve the Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) by establishing clearer targets for all performanceindicators and explaining variances with significant indicators when they occur. Lastly, the Council calls on
the Administration to restore agencies' PEGs from the November and Preliminary Plans for agencies thatexceeded their PEG targets. Because the third round of PEGs was rescinded, these agencies should beallowed to restore cuts to their budgets that surpassed their targets in the first two financial plans.
In forming this response, the Council has heard the concerns of New Yorkers across all neighborhoods anddeveloped them into clear priorities. The Council looks forward to partnering with the Administration to
implement the priorities contained in this document in advance of the release of the Executive Financial
Plan for the overall benefit of our City and all New Yorkers.

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Council Financial Plan
The Council’s Budget Response presents a realistic and balanced Financial Plan. The Council’s plan utilizes
the Administration’s Preliminary Plan as its foundation but identifies an additional $6.15 billion in
potential resources in Fiscals Years 2024 and 2025. These additional resources are sufficient to address
unmet needs identified by the Council during its Preliminary Budget hearings. Moreover, the revised plansafeguards these proposed investments by leaving resources to deal with outyear budget gaps andaddresses additional financial needs that may arise in the budget adoption process.
The Administration’s Preliminary Plan includes a budget of $114.1 billion in Fiscal 2024 and $109.4 billion
in Fiscal 2025. As required by the City’s Charter, the Administration presented a balanced budget for boththe current and upcoming fiscal years. However, outyear gaps, while smaller than in earlier plans, doremain.
Table 1: January 2024 Financial Plan Summary
Dollars in Millions

REVENUES
Taxes
Miscellaneous Revenues
Unrestricted Intergov. Aid
Less: Intra-City and Disallowances
Subtotal, City Funds
State Aid
Federal Aid
Other Categorical Grants
Capital Funds (IFA)TOTAL REVENUES
EXPENDITURES
Personal Services
Other Than Personal Services (OTPS)
Debt Service
General Reserve
Capital Stabilization Reserve
Less: Intra-City
Spending Before Adjustments
Surplus Roll Adjustment (Net)TOTAL EXPENDITURES
Gap to be Closed

Avg. Annual
Change

FY24

FY25

FY26

FY27

FY28

$73,0288,621
17(2,285)$79,381$74,945
8,100
0(2,012)$81,033$76,8687,707
0(2,016)$82,559$79,6217,646
0(2,013)$85,254$81,703
7,637
0(2,012)$87,3282.8%(3.0%)$20,239
12,485
1,271
728$114,104$18,852
7,741
1,086
729
$109,441$17,596
7,215
1,081
737
$109,188$17,658
7,165
1,080
738
$111,895$17,809
7,249
1,080
738
$114,204(3.1%)(12.7%)(4.0%)
0.3%
0.0%$55,623
54,7487,653
50
0(2,270)$115,804($1,700)$114,104$0$57,073
48,517
8,177
1,200
250
(1,997)$113,220($3,779)$109,441$0$59,456
46,572
8,861
1,200
250
(2,001)$114,338$61,274
46,798
9,488
1,200
250
(1,998)$117,012$63,791
46,738
10,2651,200
250(1,997)$120,247

3.5%(3.9%)
7.6%
121.3%$114,338($5,150)$117,012($5,117)$120,247($6,043)

1.3%(3.1% )
2.4%

(3.2%)
0.9%

Source: Office of Management and Budget

The Council’s Budget Response makes three major adjustments to the assumptions about resources
available in the Preliminary Plan: it updates the tax forecast, recognizes there will be accruals for personal
service costs, and reflects that the remaining current in-year budgetary reserves will likely not be needed
and can be used at budget adoption.
Council Budget Response Financial Plan Update
The City Council’s adjustments to the Preliminary Plan result in at least $6.15 billion in newly identified
resources that are unaccounted for in the current plan. This includes an additional $2.3 billion in Fiscal
2024 and nearly $3.8 billion in Fiscal 2025. Because the Fiscal 2024 budget remains in balance, the5

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

resources the Council identified for that year can be rolled forward to Fiscal 2025, prepaying Fiscal 2025
expenses, thus providing $6.15 billion in resources for Fiscal 2025 as summarized in Table 2.
Table 2: Council Financial Plan Changes
Dollars in Millions
2024
Gap in Prelim PlanRESOURCES
Council Tax Forecast
PS Accruals
In-Year Reserves
Subtotal
USE OF FUNDS
Preliminary Budget Response Proposals
Deposit to Rainy Day FundSet aside for Fiscal Cliff Issues
Subtotal
TOTAL: Resources & Use of Funds
Offset by increase of FY24 prepayments to FY25
Surplus in Council Preliminary Budget Response

2025
$0

$0

$1,2721,000
50$2,322$2,0801,250
500$3,830$0$2,322(2,322)$0($1,627)(500)(3,000)($5,127)($1,297)
2,322$1,025

It is important to recognize that the Budget Response does not include a full accounting of all additional
resources that are likely to be available, such as those stemming from the proposed 10 percent PEG on
asylum seeker shelter costs and the typical accruals on Other Than Personal Service (OTPS) costs, among
others. Even without these specifically laid out, the Council’s updated financial plan demonstrates there
are sufficient resources available to make targeted investments, while still leaving substantial resources
available to deal with fiscal cliffs and other risks to the budget.
Council Tax Forecast
The City Council’s tax forecast as presented in the Council’s Revenue and Economics Forecast issued on
March 3, 2024, projects City tax revenues to exceed the City’s estimate by $3.3 billion in Fiscal 2024 and2025 combined. In Fiscals 2024 through 2028, the Council estimates 3.3 percent annual average tax
revenue growth. Despite being higher than the Administration’s projections, the Council’s forecasted tax
revenue growth is relatively weak in comparison to the 5.5 percent average annual growth rate
experienced over the last decade.
The Council’s tax forecast is driven by the resilient economic growth experienced in Calendar Year 2023,
despite continued elevated interest rates. The forecast assumes that the Federal Reserve’s efforts torestore price stability will have lagged impact, leading the national and City economies’ growth to lose
momentum in 2025 before economic growth starts to pick up in the later years of the plan period. While
the Council’s national economic forecast is stronger than the Administration’s, the rate of economic
growth will remain slower than pre-COVID levels, as households and businesses are expected to cut backon spending due to the lagged impact of higher costs of borrowing.
More recent economic forecasts, such as the one released by the Federal Open Market Committee inMarch, are increasingly aligned with the Council’s forecast, reflecting a more resilient economic outlook
than the City’s projections in the Preliminary Plan, while keeping a watchful eye on the latest inflation andlabor market readings.
The City’s economy continues to show strength as the local labor market begins to cool down. The City
has seen year-over-year gains in payroll employment, although it is decelerating due to tightenedmonetary policy since the onset of interest rate hikes. Along with continued employment gains, the City’s

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

current seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.1 percent remains lower than the historical averageof 7.7 percent.
The main differences between the Administration and the Council’s tax forecasts appear in the property
tax, personal income tax, and business taxes, as presented in Table 3.

Table 3: New York City Council Tax Revenue Difference from Administration
Dollars in Millions
FY24
FY25
FY26
FY27

FY28

Real Property
$89
$425
$567
$651
$1,845
Personal Income and PTET
513
508
907
991
1,201
Business Income Taxes
280
853
1,017
1,113
1,170
Sales
115
131
112
140
151
Property Transaction
80
(32)
(66)
(83)
(46)
Audits
179
179
179
179
179
All Others
$16
$16
$13
$30
$58
Total Taxes$1,272$2,080$2,730$3,021$4,558Source: New York City Council Finance Division, NYC Office of Management and Budget (OMB),Fiscal 2025 Preliminary Financial Plan

The Council forecasts additional property tax revenue stemming from the impact of the Fiscal 2025
preliminary assessment roll’s increase on the City’s baselined property tax levy. However, theAdministration did not fully recognize the revenue impact of the tentative assessment roll in thePreliminary Plan, likely due to the brief period of time between the release of the roll and the Preliminary
Plan. The City Council also estimates marginally lower reserves than the City, at seven percent foruncollectable property tax payments, which includes delinquencies, refunds, cancelations, and tax
expenditures. Property tax collections are expected to be higher throughout the financial plan period due
to greater than anticipated assessment growth, while declining property transaction taxes will partially
offset these revenue gains. The Council anticipates office vacancy rates to stay elevated throughout thefinancial plan period, while high mortgage rates continue to suppress the existing 1-3 family home sales
below pre-pandemic levels.
While the Council anticipates that the personal income tax will generate less revenue in Fiscal 2024 thanin the prior year, we do not believe the reduction will be as steep as projected by the Administration. Both
the City and the Council believe that in Fiscal 2024. there will be a reduction in the non-withholding
component of the personal income tax, coupled with taxpayers settling prior overpayments from the passthrough entity tax (PTET). However, the Council forecasts this will be partially offset by higher
withholdings in Fiscal 2024. This stronger growth extends through the financial plan period where theCouncil projects withholdings, which make up the majority of the personal income tax, to grow 5.5 percent
annually, a higher pace than the Administration’s more moderate 4.9 percent annual growth rate. The
Council expects robust growth in business taxes in Fiscal 2024, driven by corporate profits along with aresilient national economy. Contrary to the Administration's declining business corporation tax estimates,
the Council’s forecast anticipates business corporation tax revenues to grow at a moderate pace whilestaying in positive territory due to lagged impact of quantitative tightening for Fiscals 2025 and 2026.
The Council projects sales tax collections to grow by 4.7 percent annually, slightly higher than the
Administration’s estimate of 4.4 percent annual growth throughout the financial plan period. The
Council’s sales tax forecast is in line with the pre-pandemic long-run average of 4.8 percent annual growth,and it is primarily driven by the expected rate declines supporting robust collections outlook, along with
continued rebound of tourism activity and stabilized wage earnings throughout the financial plan.
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Personal Service Accruals
The Fiscal 2024 Adopted Budget included funding for slightly over 302,000 full-time employees citywide.
In addition to salaries and overtime costs, the adopted budget included funding for fringe benefits, suchas pensions, health care, and employer taxes. While the current-year headcount has been reduced
slightly, primarily the result of vacancies eliminated in the citywide Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG),
agencies still have over 16,000 vacancies (a 5.5 percent vacancy rate). Although the citywide hiring freeze
that was put into effect during the pandemic has been relaxed, it is still assumed that for the remainderof the year, the City’s vacancy rate will remain relatively unchanged. The City Council estimates that thedeferred costs related to these 16,000 vacant positions, including wages and fringe, for the remainder of
Fiscal 2024 is approximately $1 billion. This is a conservative appraisal considering estimates made byother fiscal monitors, which are as high as $1.6 billion.2
Because of historical attrition and turnover, and with the City’s current hiring restrictions likely to continue
for some time, the Council assumes that there will also be some level of accruals related to unspentbudgeted personnel costs in Fiscal 2025. Cautiously estimating year-long vacancies only half the current
level (approximately 8,000) provides the City with an additional $1.25 billion of resources in Fiscal 2025.
The combined $2.25 billion of accrued personal service (PS) expenses can be used to fund other priorities
within the Fiscal 2025 budget.
Reserves
The Council calls on the City to make contributions to its Rainy Day Fund by depositing $500 million offunds currently budgeted in Fiscal 2025’s in-year General and Capital Stabilization Reserves. Not only will
this allow the City to more clearly and deliberately build up an insurance policy to safeguard City services
during periods of economic and fiscal difficulty, but it would also have a secondary effect, increasingtransparency regarding the City’s fiscal situation.
While in-year budgetary reserves, such as the General Reserve and Capital Stabilization Reserve, are usefulin addressing unexpected fiscal stress within a specific year, they have several disadvantages. First, theymust be drawn down by the end of each fiscal year, so on their own, they do not truly represent an
investment to address future downturns. Second, the in-year reserves do not reflect any actual spending,and therefore have the side effect of inflating outyear budget gaps. Over a quarter of the outyear gaps
presented in the Preliminary Plan stem from the inclusion of $1.45 billion in reserves spending that will
most likely be zeroed out by the end of the year.
Prior to the Great Recession, it was not unusual for the City to adopt and maintain budgets where the inyear reserves were less than 0.6 percent3 of the City’s budget. This was true for many of the Bloombergera budgets, which were often praised as fiscally sound. The Preliminary Plan includes $1.45 billion of inyear budgetary reserves in each of Fiscal 2025 through Fiscal 2028. For Fiscal 2025, this is over 1.3 percentof the City’s budget, or twice the level that was typically seen prior to the Great Recession.
Making regular deposits into the Rainy Day Fund would allow the City to bring in-year reserve levels backto more historical norms without undermining the security they provide. This would provide a clearer

2

See Analysis of the 2025 Preliminary Budget and Financial Plan by the Independent Budget Office, by the
Independent Budget Office, published February 15, 2024
3
For example, the Fiscal 2006 budget was adopted about $52.8 billion and had a General Reserve $300 million, orroughly 0.6% of total funds.

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picture of the City’s fiscal situation while establishing the positive habit of building up multi-year reserves
to safeguard City services for the inevitable rainy day.
Financial Risks Stemming from Underbudgeting
The City’s financial plan is meant to be an accurate presentation of the current understanding of the City’splanned revenue collection and agency expenditures. But budgeting is far from an exact science. The
formulation of each fiscal year’s budget relies on a large number of assumptions and estimations basedon many factors that are often uncontrollable. At the core of nearly all budgetary assumptions, particularly
expenditure estimates, is a proper understanding of recent actual expenditures. While the budgeting
process cannot account for unforeseen events such as natural disasters or international upheaval, it canaccount for past experiences. Budgets are often developed heeding the maxim of “the past is prologue.”
Yet, too often, New York City’s financial plans do not appropriately account for costs at a levelcommensurate with recent expenditures. Financial plans that do not include a proper reconciliation of all
costs are an inaccurate representation of the City’s budgetary outlook.
The City’s Preliminary Plan provides insufficient funding in many areas where the City should adequately
fund entitlement programs and eliminate backlogs and waitlists. These include: 1) the costs for agency
operations, such as the baselined prevailing wage for homeless shelter security guards, and public andindigent defenders; 2) the provision of social services and benefits to those in need, including HRA’s Cash
Assistance program, Right to Counsel (anti-eviction civil legal services), the rental assistance voucher
program CityFHEPS (including $145 million for first-year implementation of the Council’s enacted laws),
HIV and AIDS Services Administration (HASA) emergency shelter units, and the provision of childcare
vouchers by ACS; and 3) mandated expenses, such as Carter Cases within the Department of Educationand the City’s payments related to foster care.
The Council would like to particularly highlight the need to ensure that City contracts cover the actual
costs of services, fixed cost increases, and equitable pay rates. Public defender organizations requiresignificant funding to have the capacity to fulfill their duties, fund the costs associated with implementing
discovery laws, hire additional staff, provide pay parity for retention, and secure technology
improvements to collect, store, organize, and share evidence for criminal cases. Contracted legal service
providers in HRA’s Right to Counsel program have been experiencing untenably high caseloads, limited
ability to take on new cases, hiring and retention issues, pay parity concerns, and issues related to delayed
payment of contracts. This leaves many eligible low-income tenants unable to obtain a lawyer to assist
them with their eviction proceedings. The Administration should ensure that both civil and indigent
defense attorneys are adequately supported to ensure they are able to provide legal services to all eligible
clients.
In addition to programs that are historically under-budgeted, the current financial plan faces the unique
circumstance of having to account for the expiration of billions of dollars of federal stimulus funding. The
federal government’s monetary infusion during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed for the expansion ofmany City programs, as well as enabling the City to offset costs that were historically paid for with City tax
levy. The expiration of the last of these federal dollars at the end of calendar year 2024 has resulted in
uncertainty for the continuation of many programs, particularly those offered by the Department of
Education. While the City has provided alternative funding sources for some of these programs, there
remain a large number of programs that could be reduced or eliminated in the next fiscal year unless the
expiring federal funds are replaced.
The City Council estimates the current financial plan does not adequately account for certain underbudgeted expenditures, as well as the fiscal cliff brought about by the expiration of federal COVID-19
stimulus funding. While ascertaining the exact value of this shortfall is a challenge, based on testimony

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received during the Council’s hearings on the Preliminary Plan, we assume that it would be appropriate
for the City to set aside an additional $3 billion of resources to account for these costs. This issue is notjust a concern for Fiscal 2025, but for each year of the financial plan period, and thus these costs should
also be recognized in the outyears of the financial plan.
As mentioned previously, the Council also calls on the Administration to start making regular deposits to
the Rainy Day Fund as a means for saving money that could be used to help manage future fiscal cliffs.
While the City cannot fully fund all the outyear budget shortfalls from the reserves, they can be usedstrategically to allow the City more time to implement thoughtful efficiencies that allow these services tocontinue, but at lower cost.
Remaining Surplus
Additionally, the Council’s budget response intentionally does not make full use of all the resources
identified and leaves roughly $1.025 billion of undedicated resources that can be used to address
additional fiscal needs that may arise through the budget process.

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Laying A Strong Foundation of Housing for New Yorkers and Families
The provision of affordable and stable housing is vital in the effort to enable New Yorkers to remain in theCity. Shortchanging these critical investments produces instability that undermines the City’s wellbeing. Over the past several years, New York City has been facing an affordability and housing crisis. For
many New Yorkers, this has presented an impossible choice to either struggle and remain in the City or
leave, or in the worst case, fall into homelessness. The City must create a pathway for stability andprioritize the development of stable affordable housing. The Administration presented a plan to create
more housing, laid out initially in its Housing Blueprint. However, housing development still falls short inmatching the affordability needs for all New Yorkers. The creation and preservation of affordable housing
must increase, and the capital commitment plan must match the goal of providing affordable homes thatmeet the needs of communities. In response, the Council calls upon the Administration to increase capitalspending on affordable housing by $3.66 billion over the next five years, a $732 million annual increase
starting in Fiscal 2025. The Council also urges the Administration to increase capital commitments for the
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) by $584 million in Fiscal Year 2025 to address critical
maintenance repairs.
For any housing plan to flourish, it must contain goals to expand the full spectrum of housing supports,
particularly for those New Yorkers on the margins. This must include increased commitment to supportive
housing, rental vouchers, affordable homeownership, and a range of housing services for New Yorkers
facing housing instability, including addressing the homelessness-to-housing gap. This is particularly
important as the City’s existing housing pressures are enhanced by an increased homeless population of
long-time New Yorkers and newer arrivals without access to family and homes.
The City must also ensure equity for current homeowners. One way this can be achieved is by pursuingand developing a comprehensive plan for property tax reform. A framework exists with therecommendations set forth by the Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform. The Council urges the
Administration to begin the development of a citywide tax reform plan in partnership with the City
Council.
Increase Investments in Affordable Housing and Homeownership Opportunities
With rents and homelessness in the City at record highs, there is an urgent need to confront the housingcrisis with every available tool. Through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD),
the City creates opportunities for New Yorkers to live in housing that is affordable and financially stable.
The investments made through HPD help build and preserve housing for New Yorkers of all ages andneeds, including seniors, extremely low-income individuals, those requiring supportive housing, andaspiring homeowners.
The Council believes that the City’s capital budget should align with the Mayor’s pledge to provide $2.5
billion annually for affordable housing and homeownership opportunities funded through HPD. The Fiscal
Year 2024-2028 Executive Capital Commitment Plan should include an additional $3.66 billion over five
years in order to realize the full scale of the Mayor’s promise. The Council’s request represents thedifference between the Mayor’s pledge and the current level of funding for the creation of affordable
housing and homeownership opportunities in the Fiscal Year 2024-2028 capital plan, excluding the $1.41
billion pass-through funding for NYCHA RAD/PACT conversions within HPD’s budget. This investmentaligns with the Administration’s Get Stuff Built and City of Yes initiatives, and most importantly, its“moonshot” goal of building 500,000 new homes over a decade.
The Council estimates that over the next five years, approximately 60,000 more units could be built andpreserved with the increased funding, including supports for thousands of existing homeowners and those11

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looking for new homeownership opportunities, such as shared-equity multifamily options. Altogether, theinvestment would add to the City’s critical resource of permanently affordable housing and unlock thepossibility of generational wealth for New York families who have been left behind or locked out of thehomeownership market by soaring housing prices. Funding would also address building neglect, restore
aging supportive and senior housing, and help make buildings more climate resilient and accessible.
The Council calls on the Administration to increase HPD’s capital commitments funding by approximately$732 million annually. Table 4 presents a sample distribution of the funding across key housing programs,
along with an estimate of the number of units that would be built or preserved.
Table 4: Proposed Annual New Investment in HPD’s Five-Year Capital Commitment Plan
Estimated
AnnualProgram
Production
Extremely Low Income (< 30% AMI) & Very Low-Income Housing (< 50% AMI)
3,987
Low-Income Rentals (< 80% AMI)
2,118
Neighborhood Pillars
1,786
Open Door Homeownership
625
Preservation/Rehabilitation Programs*
3,000
Supportive Housing
490
TOTAL
12,006

Amount$75,000,000$50,000,000$250,000,000$250,000,000$57,000,000$50,000,000$732,000,000*Includes HomeFix, Multifamily Preservation, Supportive Housing Rehabilitation, Section 202 Senior Housing, Preservation Loan
Program (PLP), Green Housing Preservation, etc.

This proposal is consistent with the Administration’s own housing development goals. The
Administration’s 2022 Housing Our Neighbors blueprint called for expanding Neighborhood Pillars,suggesting that the revamped program should be paired with a down payment assistance fund to supportacquisition by non-profits and M/WBEs. As such, the Council urges the Administration to explore a fullrevamping of this program to better serve the housing needs of New York City. Meanwhile, the supportive
housing expansions would extend HPD’s commitment beyond its 7,500 unit share of the City’s 15,000unit target set by the prior Administration. This investment would also provide new opportunities to serve
special populations. The Council supports additional supportive housing for New Yorkers exiting thejustice system (Justice Involved Supportive Housing, or JISH), foster care, and nursing homes. Supportive
housing programs provide permanent affordable housing that sets vulnerable New Yorkers on a surer
path to longer, healthier lives outside of the justice system.
Finally, the Council calls on the Administration to update HPD term sheets and financing terms in order toensure that all housing financing programs are being fully accessed and utilized by affordable housingdevelopers, while maximizing the creation and preservation of affordable rental and homeownership
opportunities. HPD should ensure that term sheets are producing an appropriate mix of apartments andhomes, with a range of bedrooms to serve families and individuals, and should collaborate with thedevelopment ecosystem to expedite promising programs like Open Door and Neighborhood Pillars.
Additionally, HPD should elevate programs that build homes – not only apartments – in areas of the City
that have consistently produced housing in support of overarching citywide goals.
Furthermore, HPD should work with the Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to
standardize and update term sheet policies and underwriting standards as much as possible, limiting
OMB’s role to simply ensuring compliance with City capital rules, thus speeding up the process andreducing the cost of building and preserving affordable housing.
Unfortunately, the City will not be able to fulfill these aggressive housing creation and preservation goals
if HPD does not have adequate staffing to shepherd these programs. The allocation of additional capital

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dollars for HPD programs must be accompanied by a concerted effort to hire the necessary HPD staff tomanage the programs.
Invest in Fundamental Maintenance and Repairs at NYCHAThe City’s public housing is home to more than half a million New Yorkers. The City has an important
responsibility to maintain this critical supply of affordable housing and preserve it for generations of New
Yorkers to come. Recognizing the importance of public housing, in 2021, the Mayor pledged to provide$1.5 billion annually for capital improvements in the City’s public housing stock. The Council calls for the
next capital budget to be aligned with this commitment by allocating an additional $2.92 billion to NYCHA
over five years. This amounts to an annual increase of approximately $584 million. A portion of thisfunding must be used to fund NYCHA staff managing the projects. Currently, unlike all City agencies,
NYCHA is not allowed to utilize capital funds to pay for the cost of personnel who work on City’s capitalprojects. The Administration should work with the City Comptroller to formalize a method by which
NYCHA can access these funds. In Fiscal 2025, the Council proposes to distribute additional capital funding
as follows:$339 million to fund NYCHA capital requests that were previously denied, including $94 million
for pillar area compliance (e.g. lead, mold, asbestos, heating, elevators, and pest management),
and $129 million for extraordinary property maintenance and other property operations;$176 million in additional funding for NYCHA capital repairs;$45 million for the Vacant Unit Readiness program, to put the necessary staff and contracts inplace to make the 5,040 vacant NYCHA apartments (reported to be vacant by NYCHA as ofFebruary 2024) available more quickly;$5 million for capital project staff to restart delayed playground, community center, CCTV, layered
access control, and other discretionary capital projects.

Department of City Planning PEG Reversal and Capital Funding to Enable Neighborhood Rezonings
The Preliminary Plan PEG included a $1.5 million reduction on environmental consulting contract spendingthat is critical for advancing neighborhood rezonings. At the Preliminary Budget Hearing, the Department
of City Planning (DCP) stated that it would be able to advance more neighborhood plans if these funds
were restored. The Council calls for the reversal of DCP’s Preliminary Plan PEG in order to advanceneighborhood rezonings that help unlock neighborhood-driven growth and more housing. Additionally,
the Council calls for the Administration to provide a similar level of capital funding in a dedicated fund in
the Fiscal 2025 Capital Plan, as was provided for the Neighborhood Development Fund by the prior
Administration, for capital improvements associated with rezonings. This can demonstrate a strong,formal commitment to advance multi-agency capital improvements with rezonings.
Provide a Property Tax Rebate for Homeowners in NeedWith the City’s plan to reform property tax still uncertain, the City Council calls on the Administration toonce again provide a property tax rebate for eligible working- and middle-class homeowners. In Fiscal
2023, the City sought and received authorization from the State to provide a $150 rebate to all households
earning less than $250,000 per year that use their home as their primary residence. This relief was criticalto preserving affordable homeownership, as the amount owed on homeowner property tax bills hasgrown at a much faster rate than household income over the last decade. As a result, homeowners havebeen forced to commit an increased portion of their incomes to property taxes each year, diminishing
their savings and placing them at greater risk of losing their homes. Although growth in tax bills generally
occurs because of rising home values – and therefore increasing household wealth – many homeowners
struggle to generate the level of financial liquidity needed to cover the cost of everyday needs. While the13

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best way to address these ongoing fiscal pressures is holistic reform of the City’s property tax system, atemporary rebate would assist in alleviating some of the financial pressure during this current inflationary
environment. A $150 per household tax rebate is estimated to cost approximately $55.2 million and would
benefit nearly 368,000 New York City households.
Property Tax System Reform
Prior to the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget, the Administration should officially announce a clear
timeline for the release of its long-promised reforms to the City’s property tax system. The inherent issues
with the City’s property tax system are well documented. Over the years, many elected officials havesought to generate the momentum necessary to implement solutions to fix the current system. Most
recently in 2018, the prior Administration, working with the Council, formed the Property Tax Reform
Commission (Reform Commission) to establish a blueprint for a more suitable way to tax property thatmeets a rigorous policy standard for fairness, clarity, and simplicity. The Reform Commission released its
final report in December of 2021 with recommendations for reforming the property tax system.
In previous statements, Mayor Adams pledged to address property tax reform within the first year of his
term in office. At a November 2022 City Council Finance Committee Hearing, the Department of Finance(DOF) Commissioner provided some feedback from the Administration on the Reform Commission’s
recommendations. While describing the general framework as “spot-on,” the Commissioner indicatedthat the Administration needed more time to undertake further research on the impact of reform on
renters and raised concerns about the uncertainties caused by stress in the commercial office sector. The
Commissioner also expressed that DOF needed more time to analyze the impact of instituting the Reform
Commission’s proposals on a more granular level.
More than 16 months have passed since that hearing, and this Council, legislators in Albany who will
ultimately need to amend the laws that govern the City’s property tax, and the public still have no clarity
when this Administration will take the next steps to bring equity, fairness, and transparency to the City’s
property tax system.

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Prioritizing Continued Access to Education and Learning
The provision of quality educational opportunities is critical to securing household stability for New
Yorkers. Families need to believe that their children's futures are being prioritized. In less than a year, over
$2 billion of federal stimulus funding budgeted for the City’s public school system will expire. These funds
have supported critical educational programming from early childhood to college. The Administrationmust ensure the continuation of vital programs affected by the expiration of federal dollars, supplanting
them with City funds.
For working- and middle-class families, the City’s prioritization of early childhood education is vital to theirability to remain in New York City. These programs support economic stability, enabling parents to pursue
career opportunities. This is especially critical for working women, who overwhelmingly shoulder the
responsibility of caregiving. As the entry point to the school system, quality early childhood education
programs also facilitate future educational success while protecting against student enrollment declines.
The Administration must ensure that the City fully invests in fixing, preserving, and strengthening the earlychildhood education system. This means ensuring that 3K and universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) seats are
fully accessible to families that need them. Currently, there are 25,000 vacancies across the earlychildhood education system, despite the immense demand for affordable early childhood educational
options. The Council strongly believes that the existence of unfilled seats stems not from a lack of demand,
but rather from issues with the Department of Education’s administration of the program that has notmatched supply with demand. This has resulted in neighborhoods, including those with high needs, having
significant numbers of vacant seats, while families in other neighborhoods face waitlists. Additionally,
many seats are largely funded for only the school day and school year, while the need of working families
is for full day and full year seats. In Fiscal 2024, the Council successfully negotiated the inclusion of $15
million in baselined funds to institute a pilot program that would transform some school day and school
year seats into full day and full year seats. This conversion aimed to reduce the current number ofvacancies in the system, and the Council calls upon the Administration to expand this program so that theavailable seats match the needs of communities.
It is equally important for the Administration to increase its public outreach and marketing to increase
families’ awareness of available early childhood education programs. When UPK launched several years
ago, the City conducted a multi-year outreach plan that facilitated significantly increased participation
rates. The Administration should reinstitute similar outreach plans, reversing its recent reductions in these
efforts. Additionally, the Council calls for greater support of early childhood providers, including providing
timely payments and allowing providers to directly enroll families in their programs on-site. These
proposals can resolve many of the issues facing the City regarding early childhood education vacancies.
Therefore, the Council strongly advocates for the restoration of early childhood education funds taken as
savings in the November and Preliminary Plans.
The City must also invest in K-12 education programs that support children's learning, especially to combat
the historic levels of learning loss students have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic. From
the onset of the pandemic, the DOE’s K-12 census has been decreasing, from over one million students inthe 2018-2019 school year, to a low of just over 900,000 students in the 2022–2023 school year. While
the City is currently experiencing school enrollment gains, with a preliminary census of 914,700 students
in the current 2023-2024 school year, disruptions in learning over the past years have set students back.
This has particularly impacted students historically facing achievement gaps – those in low-income
communities, living in temporary housing, requiring special education services, and English Language
Learners. There are several DOE programs that have specifically supported these students, which are injeopardy due to expiring federal stimulus funds and funding reductions in the November and Preliminary

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Plan PEGs. The Council calls upon the Administration to continue funding and to restore these criticalprograms, alongside sufficient funding for schools, in order to provide adequate educational services forour city’s students. In addition, after-school programming remains a critical component in students’
educational success. These programs have been proven to equalize educational opportunities, keep youth
out of the criminal justice system, and provide parents with the necessary services to enable them toobtain employment. The Council calls upon the Administration to make a concerted effort to increase thescope of after-school programming.
Our commitment to education also cannot end at high school graduation, as secondary education often
provides opportunities for upward economic mobility. The City University system (CUNY) has beenrecognized nationally as a premier institution in providing pathways to mobility, especially for low- andmoderate-income families. As with the Department of Education, CUNY faces the impacts of expiring
federal stimulus dollars. CUNY estimates that its current budget contains a $107 million structural deficit,
should the City’s PEG reductions remain, and state aid fail to provide additional funds for the cost ofcollective bargaining. This deficit is occurring simultaneously as the university’s enrollment has declined
since the pandemic. This could have detrimental outcomes for CUNY’s operations and delivery of services,
negatively impacting its students. The Council calls upon the Administration to increase its investments in
CUNY and restore many of the programs that create positive outcomes for New Yorkers.
Early Childhood Education Funding Restoration
In the November Financial Plan, the Department of Education reduced the baseline budget for earlychildhood education services by $120 million, claiming the savings were the result of efficiencies within
the program largely stemming from under-enrollment in programs. In the Preliminary Plan, the programs
faced another baseline reduction of $50 million. The City’s previous goal to expand early childhood
education programs like 3K and UPK citywide has been rolled back by the cuts imposed by the
Administration that have also significantly reduced the number of available seats in each program. The
Council calls on the Administration to restore this $170 million for early childhood education programs in
the Fiscal 2025 Budget to allow for universal access to 3K and UPK seats.
Early Childhood Education Full Day / Full Year Seat Expansion
The City has committed to providing 3K and UPK seats to any three- and four-year-old children who needthem. Unfortunately, there is limited availability of seats that meet the needs of most working families.
Currently, most early childhood education seats are for programs that provide services only for the school
day and school year. This truncated schedule often conflicts with the work-day schedules of parents. As aresult, last year, the Council championed a proposal to expand access to these services by baselining 1,000
full day and full year seats. The Council calls on the Administration to allocate and baseline an additional$45 million to enhance the previous fiscal year’s budget of $15 million, bringing the total to $60 million
for 4,000 full day and full year seats citywide.
Early Childhood Education Marketing and Outreach
The City’s early childhood education system expanded with the launch of 3K for All in 2017. 3K for All
provided three-year-olds with the opportunity to enroll in free programs citywide. This new program wascreated in addition to UPK for four-year-olds that was launched in 2014. By the 2018-2019 school year,
enrollment in the 3K program had increased by over 300 percent. The successful rollout of the 3K program
has been attributed to the efforts of outreach teams that were originally funded in Fiscal 2018, which built
on the effective outreach efforts initiated with UPK to increase awareness and support enrollment. In
Fiscal 2023, funding for the outreach teams was eliminated and their efforts were disbanded. As of
December 2023, 10,000 of the funded 3K seats and 15,000 UPK seats were vacant, while many families
across the city were put on waitlists for seats. It is clear that the outreach teams played a pivotal role in
the program’s early success. To adequately ensure early childhood education programming reaches all

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families in need, it is essential for the Administration to re-establish these marketing and outreach efforts
by including an additional $10 million to fund them in the Fiscal 2025 budget. The reinstatement ofoutreach teams can help make the City’s early childhood education system more effective and successful.
Pre-School Special Education
In the current fiscal year, DOE is utilizing $96 million of federal stimulus funding to meet its legal obligation
to provide preschool special education programs and services. These funds help programs run bycommunity-based organizations to provide the necessary services and align their policies with the 3K and
UPK system. They provide for teachers in CBO-run preschool special education programs, speechtherapists, 48 special education administrators, and 25 community coordinators who address delays inthe development of preschool service plans. The imminent expiration of federal stimulus funding
threatens these legally mandated services. The Council calls on the Administration to restore and baseline
this $96 million, starting in Fiscal 2025, to continue providing vital and legally required services, andprevent the City from facing future due process cases for failing to provide them.
Promise NYC Program Expansion
The Council calls on the Administration to provide $25 million in baselined funding to support Promise
NYC, a program administered by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to provide childcare
vouchers for undocumented children and their families. Through contracts with community-based
providers, the program provides childcare for families that are ineligible for other voucher programs dueto their immigration status. This program was first piloted in Fiscal 2023 with $10 million in funding tosupport between 600 and 700 slots for half of the year. In the Fiscal 2024 Adopted Plan, $16 million wasprovided in Fiscal 2024 only for a similar number of slots for a full fiscal year. The City should baseline thisprogram at $25 million and expand the number of slots available with the increased funding.
Community Schools
New York City currently has 421 Community Schools, which provide additional after-school programmingand medical, dental, and mental healthcare. Community Schools have proven effective at increasing both
attendance rates and on-time graduation rates. Presently, 113 of the 421 Community Schools are fundedwith federal stimulus funding, which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. If the funding is not replaced,
these schools will no longer be able to provide the services. In addition, the remaining Community Schools
will be forced to reduce services due to an $8 million cut to the City-funded portion of the program in theNovember Plan and the expiration of $14 million in one-time City funds. The Council calls on the
Administration to restore and baseline $77 million, starting in Fiscal 2025, to substitute for expiring federal
and City funds and cover the costs of keeping necessary programming in all 421 Community Schools.
School Food Restoration
During the Council’s budget hearings, the Administration stated that over-consumption of school food
due to enhanced cafeteria programs and the increased need for meals among the student population
resulted in a reduction in per meal expenditures, reducing the availability of popular menu items. The
Department of Education’s elimination of in-demand food items from its school menus this winteraggravated an already tenuous situation, as many families rely upon school food to meet their children’s
nutritional needs. It is imperative that the Administration provide adequate resources to restore all
popular food items on school food menus by providing an additional $60 million for the food program.
This would enable the DOE to increase the amount of quality food being provided, while also accounting
for hiring the necessary cafeteria staff to serve the meals, with $17 million of these funds to restore
headcount to pre-pandemic levels, and at least $3 million of these funds to fund nutrition committees inschools.

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Certified Arts Teacher in Every School
At the Education Committee’s Fiscal 2025 Preliminary Budget hearing, DOE testified that 307 schools still
do not have a certified arts teacher. Schools without a certified arts teacher may have some level of arts
programming, often led by community groups, but not the in-depth curriculum and sequential arts
education that is possible with a certified arts teacher. Certified arts teachers are the cornerstone of anarts education program and should be the baseline for every school. The Council calls on the
Administration to enhance and baseline the budget for arts education by $38 million, starting in Fiscal
2025. These funds will allow for a certified arts teacher to be placed in every remaining school thatcurrently does not have one.
School Based Social Workers, School Psychologists and Family Workers
The National Association of School Social Workers recommends a ratio of one social worker for every 250
general education students. However, according to reports provided by the DOE, it currently employs
1,519 social workers, providing approximately one social worker per 600 students based on current
enrollment. The current social worker headcount could be overstated, as DOE used $67 million of stimulus
funds that expire next fiscal year to hire 450 school social workers. DOE utilized an additional $10 millionof stimulus funds to hire 60 school psychologists and 15 family workers to address delays in the
Individualized Education Program (IEP) development process for students with disabilities. Based on theconstant increase in Carter Cases and the related expenditures, it has become clear that family workers
are a critical part of the process. The Administration should provide funding to replace the $77 million of
expiring stimulus funds that were used to fund these positions in Fiscal 2024. The Council will continue toadvocate for social and emotional support programs.
Mental Health Continuum and School-Based Care
The City must provide mental health support in schools, where students spend much of their time, andassist families to facilitate access to treatment for their children. With the goal to enhance student
outcomes, the Administration should provide wraparound support through a variety of approaches suchas school-based mental health clinics run by H+H, equip school staff with knowledge in addressing mental
health issues in the school environment through the NYC Well hotline, provide crisis intervention forstudents 20 years old and younger through the Children’s Mobile Crisis Teams, and training to build schoolstaff capacity to manage student behavior through collaborative problem solving. This comprehensive
support must persist as students continue to need mental health services. The Council calls on the
Administration to baseline $5 million for the cross-agency partnership between the Department of
Education, H+H, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to provide mental healthsupport to all students, both in person and via video.
Youth Peer Support Program
The Council calls on the Administration to include $15.3 million in the Fiscal 2025 Budget for a new YouthPeer Support program targeting young people between the ages of 14 and 24 living with a mental illness
and expanded peer-to-peer programming in schools. It is reported that nearly 50 percent of all mental
illnesses materialize before the age of 14, and 75 percent before the age of 24. This program will utilize aproven school-based peer-to-peer model, providing peer-to-peer mental health training and toolkits toempower students in support of their wellness. So much of young people’s lives are based around school,
and it is critical to provide increased school-based mental health support and programming.
Restorative Justice Restoration
Restorative justice programming in schools provides alternatives to exclusionary and punitive discipline,with the aim of keeping students in the classroom while helping to repair relationships within the schoolcommunity. School suspensions increased 13 percent in the 2022-2023 school year, returning to prepandemic per capita levels, given fewer students enrolled in K-12 schools. Students deserve to be safe

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTand supported in their schools, but resources and appropriate interventions are needed to address
behavioral challenges and help school communities navigate conflict. Restorative justice programming isessential to help schools avoid resorting to suspensions, which do not make schools safer anddisproportionately harm students of color, students with disabilities, and those living in temporary
housing or in the foster care system. Suspensions have also been linked to lower educational attainment
and a greater likelihood of future involvement in the juvenile or criminal justice systems. Considering thatmany students are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic on their behavioral health, theprovision of these programs is crucial to making schools safer and combating the school-to-prison
pipeline. The Administration must restore the $12 million in restorative justice funding that was supportedwith expiring stimulus funds in Fiscal 2025 and the outyears, while adding an additional $10 million to
expand the programming at this pivotal moment in students’ recovery, for a total of $22 million. The
Administration must also build on this stability and take steps towards fulfilling the vision for the program
to have school-based coordinators at 500 high schools.
School Based Nurses
According to a Terms and Condition report submitted for the first quarter of Fiscal 2024, there are
currently 2,143 contracted and DOE-employed nurses in 1,406 school buildings. In addition, there are 101
nurses that provide individualized support for students in schools and 129 Transportation Nurses.
However, this investment is possible only because the Department of Education utilized $65 million infederal stimulus funds to provide a nurse at 137 schools serving 70,000 students. With the expiration ofthese stimulus funds, the Department did not provide funding in Fiscal 2025 for these nurses. It isimperative that all students have access to a full-time nurse within their school. The Council calls on the
Administration to restore and baseline the $65 million in expiring stimulus funds, starting in Fiscal 2025,
to hire full-time school nurses at every school and move away from the practice of contracting nurse
services from outside vendors.
District 75 Restoration
In the November Plan, the Administration implemented baselined PEG savings of $3 million resulting fromlower-than-expected spending in DOE’s District 75 special education programs. Given the ever-escalating
Carter Case expenditures and the increase in other due process cases related to special needs services
and education, there is a greater need for schools to provide quality special education services. The
Council finds it unfathomable that, with the apparent need for special education services, the DOE is not
spending all budgeted funds for District 75 programs. The lower-than-expected spending is due tovacancies in District 75 teaching positions and other special education-related positions. To fulfill theexigent need for the provision of special education services, the Administration should be hiring for these
positions rather than cutting spending based on anticipated future vacancies. The Council calls on the
Administration to restore and baseline the $3 million, which was cut in November, starting in Fiscal 2025.
Shelter-Based Community Coordinators
In the 2022-2023 school year, more than 100,000 public school students experienced homelessness. This
marked the eighth consecutive year that this unfortunate milestone was achieved. The overall number ofstudents experiencing homelessness and living in temporary housing is currently higher than it was adecade ago, even as overall enrollment has declined. The City currently employs 100 shelter-based
community coordinators, 75 of which are funded with expiring federal stimulus funds and the remainder
by one-time City funding for only Fiscal 2024. The Council calls on the Administration to provide $12.3
million to restore and baseline funding for all 100 shelter-based community coordinators, starting in Fiscal
2025. According to the DOE, 98 of these positions are currently filled and those staff do not have theirsalaries guaranteed after June within the Mayor’s currently proposed budget. Restoring this funding is

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necessary to enable these coordinators to continue their necessary work that improves educational
outcomes and attendance rates for students living in temporary housing.
Translation Services and Bilingual Staff
The Council calls on the Administration to restore and baseline $17 million for translation services andbilingual staff at the DOE, beginning in Fiscal 2025. This includes $10 million for bilingual education
programming for English language learners, who have graduation rates well below those of the overall
student population. The remaining $7 million would provide translation and interpretation services forfamilies who speak languages other than English. These services are vital in a City with a significant
immigrant community that is growing with the recent arrival of asylum seekers.
Immigrant Family Engagement
Language barriers and issues related to immigration status inhibit parents of public school students from
immigrant families from engaging in their children's education and schools. In order to improve theengagement between schools and immigrant families, the City needs to continue to provide funding forthe initiative focused on this support. This includes support for language access, using local ethnic media
to share school-related updates, sending translated paper notices to families’ homes, reaching families
via phone calls and text messages in their native languages, and collaborating with immigrant-facing
community-based organizations. The Council calls upon the Administration to restore $4 million tocontinue this initiative.
Literacy Instruction and Dyslexia Programming
In the current fiscal year, the City has provided $7 million for programming related to literacy instruction.
This includes screening students for reading difficulties, providing intensive reading interventions tostudents in need, and launching new specialized programs for students with dyslexia. There is currently
no funding for this suite of programs in Fiscal 2025. As the DOE begins to implement NYC Reads, a program
to ensure that all New York City school children become strong readers, schools will need continued
funding for teacher coaching and professional development. Implementing a new curriculum requires
multiple years of support to ensure its success. In order for the literacy instruction and dyslexia
programming to be implemented successfully, the Council calls upon the Administration to restore andbaseline the $7 million for these programs starting in Fiscal 2025.
Student Success Centers
Student Success Centers create partnerships between community-based organizations and high school
campuses, serving as critical opportunities for high schools to build a system of support that can improvestudents’ success in the college admissions processes. Expiring federal stimulus funds supported Student
Success Centers in high school locations. The Council calls upon the Administration to restore $3.3 million
in Fiscal 2025 to continue this program.
Learning to Work
Learning to Work is a valuable program for students over the age of 21, assisting them in earning a highschool diploma, as well as developing skills and a post-secondary plan. This program includes paidinternships, student support services, job readiness training, and college and career planning. The Council
calls on the Administration to restore and baseline $33 million, starting in Fiscal 2025, to cover expiring
federal stimulus funding that is currently allocated for the program. Currently, 70 percent of the program’s
funding is covered by these expiring federal funds. Without additional City funding, the program would
be severely reduced and made less effective.
Outward Bound Crew Model
NYC Outward Bound Schools operate a network of public schools focused on both academic achievement
and character development. This uniquely powerful approach was available only to students at NYC

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Outward Bound network schools until the Department of Education instituted the Crew Initiative in Fiscal
2022. Crew programming is now being provided – free of charge – to 50 public schools across the fiveboroughs at a cost of $1.6 million. This cohort of 50 schools has been working with NYC Outward Boundfor the past two years to build their capacity to successfully embed a Crew program and culture in theirschool communities. The Council calls on the Administration to provide $1.6 million in the Fiscal 2025
budget to continue funding the Crew model through Outward Bound schools to retain and expand on its
success.
Cafeteria Enhancements
The Council calls on the Administration to provide $150 million of capital funds to complete cafeteriaenhancements in all remaining schools that have not had an enhancement. There is $150 million currently
in the School Construction Authority’s (SCA) Fiscal 2025-2029 Capital Plan for cafeteria enhancements at
the remaining middle school and high school buildings. An additional $150 million allocation will enable
the SCA to complete the enhancements in the remaining elementary schools that are currently notscheduled for cafeteria upgrades.
Making Schools Accessible
The Council calls on the Administration to increase funding in the School Construction Authority’s Fiscal
2025-2029 Capital Plan for accessibility projects at New York City’s public schools. The Fiscal 2025-2029
Capital Plan includes $800 million for accessibility projects, a $50 million increase from the Fiscal 20202024 Capital Plan. However, only 33 percent of schools are currently fully accessible. The funding in thecurrent plan will only increase that number to 40 percent by the end of the five-year plan period. The
Administration acknowledges that not every school has been surveyed to determine what work is needed
to make those schools accessible. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed over 34 years ago, andthe City’s schools are still nowhere near being fully accessible. It is imperative that the City increase thenumber of accessibility project upgrades and the rate for schools reaching full accessibility. Providing
elevators, ramps, accessible bathrooms and gym spaces in schools ensures that all students can fully
participate in their schools’ educational experience.
CUNY Funding Restoration
The City University of New York is an engine of economic and social mobility, but it continues to facechallenges fulfilling its mission due to budget constraints. CUNY is faced with a structural deficit, primarily
the result of pandemic-related enrollment declines and unfunded mandatory costs that the University has
had to absorb that are further exacerbated by cumulative baselined City budget reductions since Fiscal
2021. Community colleges’ revenues from all sources have decreased significantly in the last five years,
forcing the colleges to leave positions vacant, including faculty, student and academic support staff, andcampus maintenance workers. The Council calls on the Administration to restore $40 million in cuts to
CUNY’s budget that were initiated in the Mayor’s November and Preliminary Plans.
CUNY Reconnect
Initiated as a pilot program in Fiscal 2023, CUNY Reconnect was initially budgeted to target 10,000 former
CUNY students to return to the university system. The program has exceeded initial expectations, serving
over 32,000 students to date. The program has assisted working-age New Yorkers who left CUNY withsome college credits in returning to complete their degrees, advance their careers, and boost theirincomes. Most of the students supported by the program are women and people of color. Funding
supports a myriad of services to remove barriers that hinder students from pursuing their degrees, suchas multi-lingual and borough-wide CUNY navigators that provide guidance through the application
process; a streamlined childcare application process; financial aid, scholarships and application fee
waivers. The Council calls on the Administration to restore and baseline the current funding of $5.8 million

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTin addition to an enhancement of $2.9 million for a total baseline amount of $8.7 million, starting in Fiscal
2025.
CUNY Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE)
CUNY’s Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) is a comprehensive academic support program designed
to help students complete their bachelor’s degree program on time, including for first-time freshmen andtransfer students who enter with an associate degree. ACE currently serves 2,800 students and provides
intensive academic advisement, career development, tuition scholarships, textbooks, and transportation
assistance. To ensure the continuation of this important program, the Council calls upon the
Administration to restore and baseline $9.1 million for the CUNY ACE program, beginning in Fiscal 2025.
CUNY ASAP for All
Launched in 2007 with support from the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), CUNY
Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) is a comprehensive program for associate-degree
students at Borough of Manhattan, Bronx, Hostos, Kingsborough, LaGuardia, and QueensboroughCommunity Colleges; Medgar Evers College; College of Staten Island; and New York City College ofTechnology. The extensive support provided by CUNY ASAP includes financial resources (tuition waivers
for students in receipt of financial aid with a gap in need, textbook assistance, and MetroCards). In
addition, the program structures pathways to support academic momentum (full-time enrollment, block
scheduled first-year courses, immediate and continuous enrollment in developmental education, andopportunities for winter and summer course-taking). ASAP also provides comprehensive direct support
services, including personalized advisement, tutoring, career development services, and early
engagement opportunities to build a connected community. The Council calls on the Administration to
restore and baseline funding for ASAP at $5 million, starting in Fiscal 2025.
CUNY Social Work Fellows
According to the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, “one in five New Yorkers experiences
mental illness in a year” and “hundreds of thousands of these New Yorkers are not connected to care.” At
the same time, there is a deepening and severe shortage in the mental health workforce. It is critical that
there is an appropriate number of social workers to address the growing mental health needs of New
Yorkers. A commitment to improving mental health outcomes for all New Yorkers requires a stronger
workforce. CUNY’s Social Work Fellows program can recruit and assist candidates within the social work
master’s programs at Hunter College, College of Staten Island, Lehman College, and York College.
Providing baseline funding of $2 million, starting in Fiscal 2025, will enable CUNY to provide scholarship
opportunities for students seeking their master’s degree and licensure in social work. This program will
provide training for social workers to improve access to mental health care and provide an equitable
distribution of resources to address the growing needs of mental health services.
CUNY Computing Across the Curriculum Micro-Credential
The City should ensure that far more teachers in the Department of Education have the skills andexperience needed to build computational thinking into their practice of teaching. This would help ensurethat every young person, particularly Black and Latina girls, can build confidence in computing from anearly age. To achieve this at scale, the City should focus on training teachers before they enter theclassroom by creating a new Computing Across the Curriculum Micro-Credential for students pursuingteaching degrees, providing in-service training for DOE teachers, and trainings for other DOE employees,
such as after-school educators. This program would help educators learn how to integrate computing
equitably in their instruction and serve as a clear signal of educators’ expertise to school and districtdecision makers. The Council calls on the Administration to include $800,000 in Fiscal 2025 to create thisprogram.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTCUNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE)
CUNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) is a pilot initiative to support the next generationof public school teachers to be champions of equitable computing education and meaningfully integratecomputing and digital literacies into public school classrooms. Fewer than half of CUNY’s education faculty
have participated in the program to date, and as a result, most aspiring educators-in-training at CUNY do
not yet receive instruction and coaching in equitable computing education practices. The Council urges
the Administration to restore $564,000 in the Fiscal 2025 budget to expand this program, which will
enable more than 8,000 new educators with computing education knowledge to become credentialed injust five years.
CUNY Cultural Corps
In 2016, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) released a report entitled “Diversity in
the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Community,” which concluded that the demographics
of staff and leadership at City-funded non-profit cultural organizations did not reflect the City’s
population. In response, New York City launched the CUNY Cultural Corps program to address this lack ofdiversity in the cultural sector. It provides CUNY students with hands-on learning and professional
development related to the City’s vibrant arts and cultural sector. Each year, approximately 80 of theCity’s cultural organizations benefit from access to CUNY students’ talent, expertise, and assets during
their internship. Partner organizations also have connections to strong candidates for job openings. CUNY
students are paid $18 per hour to intern at organizations in the visual, literary, and performing arts andpublic-oriented science and humanities institutions, including zoos, botanical gardens, and historic andpreservation societies. In Fiscal 2024, 169 students participated in the Cultural Corps program. The Council
calls on the Administration to restore and baseline $650,000 in Fiscal 2025 for the program to provide
experiential learning in the arts and cultural sector for over one hundred additional CUNY students per
year, bringing the total to 300 participants annually.
Title VI Coordinators at DOE and CUNY
The recent incidents of hate speech involving students and teachers in the New York City school system
has led to the initiation of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on possible Title VI
violations by the DOE. Title VI provides protections against discrimination based on race, color, or national
origin in any institution or program that receives federal funding from ED. Considering the gravity of theinvestigation and the numerous incidents that have taken place during this school year, theAdministration must provide an additional $4.4 million to hire one Title VI coordinator in each of the 32
school districts to address acts of bias within schools and re-establish the Division of School Culture in the
DOE. Similarly, the rising number of incidents of antisemitism on college campuses in New York City andacross the state reinforce the need for Title VI coordinators to ensure nondiscriminatory environments.
The Council calls on the Administration to include $2.3 million in the budget to hire 20 coordinators at
CUNY to address acts of bias.
CUNY Capital Support
Facility conditions are a crucial factor in recruiting and retaining students and attracting high quality
faculty and staff. The CUNY system is comprised of approximately 300 buildings across New York City,
encompassing 29 million square feet of classrooms, labs, theaters, athletic facilities, and more. The
Council calls on the Administration to allocate $333.1 million in capital funding to support CUNY inpreserving the university system’s infrastructure, recapturing spaces that are under-utilized, improving
technology, and meeting energy conservation goals. CUNY is currently completing a university-wide
facility condition assessment that will give a more precise, holistic evaluation of CUNY’s maintenanceneeds at the building level. This evaluation will allow for an even more efficient allocation of resources.

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Advancing A Healthy and Safe CityOne of government’s primary obligations is to provide services helping to ensure the health and safety ofresidents. Like localities throughout the country, New York City is facing a continuing mental health crisis
that is exacerbated by the effects of decades-long disinvestments in mental health services. The City has
relied too much on emergency and crisis responses, when a strong, community-based infrastructure of
prevention is needed. The former approach is expensive, dehumanizing, and ineffective. In too manycases, the results have been fatal. New Yorkers are falling through the cracks, bouncing between systems
that are ill-equipped to help them. When this happens repeatedly, it yields the common results
experienced in our city – instead of mental health care, struggling New Yorkers are repeatedly being cycled
in and out of the criminal legal system. This has resulted in the overburdening of other systems, which are
ill equipped to properly respond.
Public health and public safety issues are intrinsically intertwined, illustrated by the continued andincreasingly high number of New Yorkers with mental health challenges being inappropriately directed
into the City’s criminal legal system and jails rather than into treatment. The City’s failure to invest inevidence-based solutions that promote positive mental health and safety outcomes is partially to blame
for the City’s unnecessarily high jail population and recidivism. The lack of effective treatment-based
responses to mental health issues increases the likelihood that those impacted are pushed into apreventable state of crisis and cycles of recidivism. The reductions in funding for programs proven to lower
recidivism over the past months only contribute to the City’s public safety challenges. To make the citysafer and healthier, the Administration must prioritize support for evidence-based solutions to mental
health challenges and recidivism. The Council urges the Administration to increase funding for these
programs.
These solutions are pivotal to improving public safety and managing the City’s jail population, especiallyas the closure of Rikers Island approaches. In addition, New York City Health + Hospitals’ construction of
outposted therapeutic hospital beds is essential to move the most medically vulnerable people off ofRikers. While the first of three units, located at Bellevue, is expected to be completed by the Spring of2025, construction of the remaining units at Woodhull and North Central Bronx should be accelerated.
At the same time, many parts of the City still lack equitable access to healthcare. While New York City’s
H+H public hospitals and several private healthcare institutions underpin the city’s healthcare system,
large swaths of the population still do not have readily accessible care. During the pandemic, the lack ofaccess to reliable health care options disproportionately affected certain communities. COVID-19
highlighted the inadequate investments in healthcare, as well as the inequitable distribution of healthresources, underscoring the impacts it had on low-income New Yorkers, especially in Black and Latino
communities and other communities of color. This is visibly evident in Far Rockaway Queens, whereresidents no longer have access to a neighborhood trauma center after the closure of Peninsula Hospital
more than a decade ago.
In order to provide more localized health care options, H+H developed the Gotham Health Center model.
These centers were created to address the primary care needs of families and individuals in their own
neighborhoods. Currently Gotham Health Centers exist in 30 neighborhoods around the City. The
Administration should focus on providing additional access to these centers in all the City’s
neighborhoods.
The City must invest in expanding access to healthcare if health outcomes are to be improved. This isparticularly the case in relation to infant and maternal health. Since 2021, the City has seen an increase in

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the infant mortality rate, while the pregnancy-associated mortality rate for Black women has increased to98.1 per 100,000 births.
Promoting a healthy and safe City also requires fully investing in the infrastructure of municipal oversightand accountability systems. The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and the Board of Correction(BOC) both oversee policies, procedures, and misconduct in the Police Department and the Departmentof Correction, respectively. Inspectors and staff roles across several oversight agencies were reduced in
the PEGs but are pivotal to ensure appropriate and effective policies and accountability. As such, theCouncil urges the Administration to fully restore funding for these positions.
15/15 Supportive Housing
Supportive housing remains one of the most effective solutions to successfully address issues of mental
health and homelessness. The Council calls on the Administration to allocate $19.6 million to progress the
15/15 Supportive Housing program towards its target of 15,000 units of supportive housing for New
Yorkers. The additional funding would improve scattered site units, aligning service and operating rates
to 110 percent of fair market rent and congregate levels, respectively. The funds would allow the City tocommit to a dedicated Supportive Housing Preservation Program. This could include a newly developed
term sheet for units developed before 2008. By collaborating with the Supportive Housing Network of
New York and affordable housing partners the City could develop an Affordable Housing Overlay Pilot incity funded affordable housing developments. These steps could provide a more stable environment for
tenants and streamline management for providers.
Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) Teams Funding
Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams are evidence-based mobile programs that provide
coordinated behavioral health and social services for individuals who are justice-involved, have serious
mental illness, and have not been successfully engaged by the traditional mental health and rehabilitation
systems. FACT teams provide holistic, wrap-around services in close coordination with criminal justiceagencies to help clients avoid further justice involvement, reduce recidivism, and gain stability. The FACT
team model is based off the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model that delivers treatment,
rehabilitation, and community integration services to individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness.
The Preliminary Plan includes $15 million in Fiscal 2025 for FACT teams. The Council calls on the
Administration to baseline an additional $7 million to increase the FACT team budget by nearly 50 percent,expanding the scope of services for existing teams and allowing for the conversion of ACT teams. This canhelp to better address the mental health crisis, preventing it from being exacerbated by inappropriately
cycling New Yorkers in and out of the criminal legal system without accessing care.
Mental Health Clubhouses
In October 2023, DOHMH released an RFP to expand New Yorkers' access to Mental Health Clubhouses(Clubhouse). The RFP provided a $30 million investment in City and State funds to expand the Clubhousemodel. However, the RFP also includes strict guidelines on the size of the Clubhouses, which would close
smaller Clubhouses and could ultimately reduce the total number down from 16 citywide to 13. The
Administration, while revamping the Clubhouse RFP to increase overall capacity, should factor in thepreference of Clubhouse members for a community centered model and the relationships they have built
over the years. The one-size-fits-all approach to scaling up Clubhouses will not work for every
neighborhood and will lead to the closure of current smaller clubhouses that benefit hard to reachcommunities across the City.
Trauma Recovery Center Expansion
Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs) are an evidence-based model of care that provide support tounderserved victims of violent crime and help stop cycles of violence. The centers provide clinical case25

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management, evidence-based therapy, and crisis intervention services. In addition, they provide legal
advocacy, assist in filing police reports, and assess victim services for people living in communities withelevated levels of violence. These services are provided free of charge to victims of violent crimes, manyof whom are unaware that these services are available to them. The budget currently includes $2.4 million
to operate the programs in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The Council calls on the Administration to enhance
the funding for TRCs with $7.2 million baselined for Fiscal 2025 and the outyears in order to sustain
existing centers and open additional centers in Queens and Staten Island.
Housing Stability Microgrants to Domestic Violence Impacted Individuals
The housing stability support program provides low-barrier microgrants to survivors of domestic, sexual,and gender-based violence. The Fiscal 2023 Preliminary Plan included $1.2 million in baselined funding in
HRA’s budget, starting in Fiscal 2024, with the aim of helping impacted individuals maintain safe and stablehousing. This funding is only able to address a fraction of the need and supports efforts consistent withlegislation passed by the Council and the Mayor's Housing Blueprint, expanding a pilot by the Mayor’s
Office to End Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV). Based on the rate of expenditures during the ENDGBV
pilot, the Council calls on the Administration to increase baseline funding for this program with anadditional $4.8 million, bringing the baseline funding up to $6 million starting in Fiscal 2025.
Women’s Concussion Clinic
Concussion care is often focused solely on the neurological and physical manifestations of the injury, withlittle focus on the patient’s mental health. However, many concussion patients are domestic abuse
survivors who require trauma-informed care in addition to the health care services they receive. The
Council calls on the Administration to allocate $300,000 in Fiscal 2025 for the implementation of a pilot
Women’s Concussion Clinic providing trauma-informed care within the Health and Hospitals network.
Justice Involved Supportive Housing (JISH)
The Council calls on the Administration to allocate an additional $6.4 million for Justice Involved
Supportive Housing to fulfill the City’s previous commitment to provide 500 supportive housing units forindividuals leaving Rikers. JISH can reduce recidivism by providing stability and successful reentry for thosetransitioning from incarceration and at risk of homelessness, preventing their entry into homelessshelters. This funding would increase service funding rates for new and existing supportive housing units
to adequately fund the existing 120 units and bring the additional 380 units into operation by facilitating
responses to the RFP that have been unanswered for years due to insufficient funding. It is also critical toestablish a separate line-item for JISH in the DOHMH budget. This is the only designated supportive
housing program in the City for people exiting Rikers. It is estimated that the need for JISH exceeds 2,500
units, but the current funding gap has undermined the program’s ability to help reduce recidivism andfacilitate successful reentry in violation of the Close Rikers points of agreement.
Office of Criminal Justice Recidivism Reduction Programs Restoration
The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) advises the Mayor on solutions to the City’s public safety
challenges by holistically analyzing the criminal justice system. Recognizing that public safety cannot be
achieved by law enforcement alone, MOCJ brings together diverse stakeholders to address the systemic
issues that undermine the safety and stability of our neighborhoods. Many of the programs it funds help
to prevent crime and reduce recidivism. Yet, the Administration has cut funding from these programs
through its budget actions in the Preliminary Plan. The Council calls on the Administration to reverse thesecuts by restoring $27.8 million in Fiscal 2025 for programming that is essential to public safety andreducing recidivism. This includes $6.7 million for Alternative to Incarceration programs that intervenewith services tailored to participants, which can help reduce unnecessary incarceration and recidivism. It
also includes a $13 million restoration of the City’s Supervised Release program that provides communitybased supervision and support for individuals with pending cases in the legal system. They are better

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served in their neighborhoods where community-based supervision can help to ensure their court
appearances, achieve stability, and lower recidivism. Finally, the Council urges the Administration to
restore $8 million for reentry programming that reduces recidivism by ensuring that people transitioning
from incarceration can successfully return to their communities and embark on productive and stable
futures.
Youth Intervention and Safety Programs Restoration
The Council calls on the Administration to restore and fully fund the evidence-based youth intervention
programs, which help improve public safety through prevention but were previously cut by the
Administration. This includes restoring the $1.6 million baselined cut to the Arches program, which helps
young people at greatest risk of crime and violence avoid destructive activities that derail them from
employment and education, and lead to involvement in the justice system. The Council also calls for the
restoration of the $2.6 million baselined cut to the Next Steps program, which intervenes with high-risk
young people to reduce violence in target NYCHA developments with high incidents of violence. In
addition, the Council would like to see an additional investment of $5.0 million annually for youth
alternative to incarceration/alternative to detention (ATI/ATD) programming through the Department of
Probation (DOP) to alleviate the increase in youth incarceration within ACS secure detention centers.
Research shows that the incarceration of young people often results in higher rates of recidivism than theuse community-based interventions that hold youth accountable.
Community Justice Centers in Staten Island and the Bronx
Community Justice Centers are neighborhood-based community courts that have been proven to reduce
recidivism and help prevent crime while solving neighborhood problems. They bridge the gap between
the courts and communities to improve public safety and trust in justice. The centers advance systemic
equity in access to housing, health, opportunity and justice. They are a vital resource for community
members, helping them to access stable housing, neighborhood safety, re-entry services, and youth
programming, while building positive relationships and addressing trauma. The Bronx and Staten Island
are currently the only boroughs without a Community Justice Center. In order to meet the needs of thesecommunities, the Council calls on the Administration to provide the necessary capital funds to constructfacilities to house Community Justice Centers.
Community-Based Solutions for Violence Interruption
In recent years, there have been numerous tragedies resulting from increased violence in the City. These
tragedies have had a traumatic effect on individuals, families, and communities. The Administration and
the Council have increased funding for the Crisis Management System (CMS), which is allocatedapproximately $100 million in the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget. Prioritizing these programs allows
community organizations to work in targeted neighborhoods where violence is highest to interrupt
violence and provide lasting safety solutions.
Mental Health Courts and Diversion Programs for District Attorneys
The City’s District Attorneys have implemented a number of innovative public safety initiatives andprograms to reduce crime and recidivism. Yet, these effective interventions that can help break cycles ofcrime are too often unavailable because they lack the investments to operate at the scale needed. Mental
health courts and their associated programs, which have been shown to reduce the likelihood of rearrest
by diverting people into treatment and increasing coordination of care, lack capacity to fulfill the level ofneed and can have average wait times of months for appropriate placement. To continue strengthening
these initiatives, the Council calls upon the Administration to provide an additional $8.9 million forbaseline funding, beginning in Fiscal 2025. Funding of $4.7 million would support additional resources for
the Manhattan Mental Health Court and the Judicial Diversion Court’s Mental Health Track. Additional
funding of $4.2 million would support ATIs and problem-solving courts.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTDistrict Attorneys and Special Narcotics Prosecutor Operational Support
The District Attorneys (DAs) and the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (OSNP) are a critical component of theCity’s criminal justice system. Retention in district attorney offices is important to prevent case delays
which can increase lengths of stays in the City’s jail system. Additional funding of $3 million would provide
resources to the Bronx District Attorney to adjust compensation and fill currently budgeted positions. In
addition, the District Attorneys still have not been able to upgrade the radio systems for their Detective
Investigation Unit. The DA’s systems will no longer be compatible with NYPD radios as the Police
Department completes their radio upgrade program. The NYPD has been loaning radios to the DAs’ offices
to enable them to continue to have access to the system, but this is unsustainable. The Council
recommended that NYPD cover the costs of upgrading these radios at its budget hearing and calls on the
Administration to provide $420,000 for each DA office and $148,000 for the Special Narcotics Prosecutor,
for a total of $2.2 million to upgrade their radio systems and make them compatible with the new NYPD
radios.
Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes Funding
The Council calls on the Administration to ensure that the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes has
adequate resources to address the troubling high levels of hate crimes across the five boroughs. The Office
coordinates the City’s efforts through an interagency committee consisting of over 20 city agencies andall five District Attorney Hate Crime Units, as well as networks of community-based providers andorganizations. This work requires adequate funding to operationalize.
Maternal Health Psychologist in Each H+H Maternal Health Department
Postpartum care, primarily addressing emotional wellness and other mental health concerns that arise
after giving birth, is a critical aspect of maternal health infrequently addressed. The Council calls on the
Administration to include a baseline of $5 million beginning in Fiscal 2025 to provide at least one maternal
health-focused psychologist within the maternity department of each H+H hospital.
Maternal and Child Health Services
The Maternal and Child Health Services initiative provides numerous supports for expectant mothers to
improve their health, both during and after pregnancy. The initiative strives to reduce infant mortality
rates and improve health outcomes for both mothers and children through the provision of doulas andhome visits. The Preliminary Plan currently includes $3.7 million for this initiative and supports 19
community-based organizations that provide these services. The Council calls on the Administration toallocate an additional $500,000 in the Fiscal 2025 Budget to enhance the Maternal and Child HealthServices initiative and increase the scope of services.
Nurse Family Partnership
The Nurse Family Partnership connects expecting first-time parents with personal nurse home visits toprovide support and ensure both a healthy pregnancy and a healthy infant. The nurses provide support,
educating parents during pregnancy and post-partum regarding appropriate care for their newborn. In
addition, the nurses provide support for infant development and connect parents with resources such as
health insurance and childcare services. This program is available to all Medicaid eligible New Yorkers
prior to the 28th week of pregnancy, and are first-time parents. The Council calls on the Administration toenhance and expand the services provided by the Nurse Family Partnership by increasing the baselinebudget by $5 million in Fiscal 2025 and the outyears.
Trauma Hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula
The Rockaway Peninsula urgently needs a certified trauma facility to care for patients in crisis. Community
stakeholders have been strongly advocating for the establishment of a new Level 1 or Level 2 trauma
center on a peninsula that is geographically isolated. The ideal location for such a facility would be on the28

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eastern side of the peninsula, because it is underserved, diverse, and contains the majority of the area’s
population. The Rockaway Peninsula has just one acute care facility, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital (St.
John’s) located in Far Rockaway, but it is not certified as a trauma center. Jamaica Hospital Medical
Center—the nearest Level I trauma center—is approximately 10 miles away from any given location on
the peninsula. As a result, the Council calls on the Administration to commit capital resources, inpartnership with the state, to build a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center on the Rockaway Peninsula thatprovides trauma-focused care for this underserved community.
Bellevue Ambulance Bay Reconstruction
The impending closure of Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s Emergency Department and the loss of inpatient beds
in July 2024 will undoubtedly strain the resources of Bellevue Hospital, intensifying the pressure on an
already bustling facility. With this increased burden in mind, it is imperative that Bellevue’s ambulance
bay undergoes long-overdue renovations to ensure that the hospital can continue to deliver high-quality
care to New Yorkers. A modernized ambulance bay will not only enhance the hospital’s capacity to handle
the anticipated surge in patient volume but also streamline emergency response efforts, ultimately
prioritizing the well-being of the community and maintaining standards of excellence in healthcaredelivery. The Council calls on the Administration to support capital funding of $2 million to reconstruct
the hospital ambulance bay at Bellevue Hospital.
Cancer Screening Day
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were unable to get necessary screenings forcancers, including the two most common types: breast and prostate cancer. HealthyNYC is the new City
initiative aimed at improving life expectancy and creating a healthier City for all. The initiative seeks to
reduce the prevalence of screenable cancers, including lung, breast, colon, cervical and prostate, by 20
percent by 2030. The City Council supports the HealthyNYC initiative and would like to see the City provide
free prostate and breast cancer screenings citywide one day each year, in order to increase early
detection. As such, the Council calls on the Administration to include and baseline $3 million starting in
Fiscal 2025 for the implementation and operation of a Cancer Screening Day to provide free screenings to
New Yorkers annually.
HealthyNYC Learning Collaboratives
The City’s HealthyNYC initiative acknowledges seven primary drivers that affect mortality rates, including
diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, cancers, drug overdose, suicide, maternal mortality, COVID-19, andviolence. HealthyNYC could benefit from the inclusion of learning collaboratives to track these mortality
drivers, with three main components. This includes: the development and implementation of a learning
collaborative for each of the primary HealthyNYC drivers, the inclusion of diverse stakeholders engaged
around that driver and centered on a neighborhood or community with elevated prevalence of the driver,the usage of different strategies and impact modeling tools to concentrate efforts towards impacting thespecific driver. The Council calls on the Administration to provide $500,000 in Fiscal 2025 for the additionof these learning collaboratives.
Glucometer Citywide Pilot
Many New Yorkers have issues accessing vital diabetes management products, such as glucometers, due
to their prohibitive cost. Glucometers can cost between $1,500 and $4,000 annually, requiring numerous
test strips in addition to the meter. Given that diabetes is one of the primary drivers of the City’s mortality
rate, the Council calls on the Administration to include $1 million in Fiscal 2025 for the implementation of
a glucometer pilot program that would provide free glucometers to help people test their blood sugar.

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Civilian Complaint Review Boards’ Headcount Increase to Ensure Police Oversight
The Civilian Complaint Review Board’s budget is required by the City Charter to include funding to support
0.65 percent of the NYPD’s budgeted uniform headcount, currently equaling 228 positions. CCRB’s Fiscal
2025 budget provides for the charter-minimum required amount of staffing. Local Law 69, passed in 2020,
created a disciplinary matrix for penalties and starting points for disciplinary action for specific acts andviolations by uniformed members of the NYPD. Local Law 47, passed in 2021, expanded the scope of CCRB
investigations to include bias-based policing and racial profiling complaints made by the public. In
addition, the law increased CCRB’s responsibility in relation to determinations of racial bias by officers,
charging the Board with investigating officer history for past professional misconduct related to bias or
racial profiling. To handle the additional investigative scope required by Local Law 47, CCRB established a
new Bias Based Policing Unit comprised of investigators, prosecutors, statisticians, and policy
professionals.
The Council is concerned that the current level of charter-mandated funding is not sufficient to provide
proper oversight, especially with civilian complaints on the rise. The Council calls on the Administration
to allow hiring for all vacant positions and to increase the Board’s baseline by $15 million in Fiscal 2025,
enabling the Board to hire an additional 144 positions and bring its total headcount to 376 positions. This
would increase the CCRB’s budget to just over 0.5 percent of the Police Department’s (NYPD) budget.
Board of Correction Restoration and Baseline
Recent incidents at Rikers Island have highlighted the need for robust oversight of the City’s jails, which isthe critical role played by the Board of Correction. Since January 2022 31 people have died in Departmentof Correction custody, or immediately following release from its jails. To appropriately conduct its chartermandated mission, the Board requires additional resources and staff support. The Council calls on the
Administration to increase the Board’s PS baseline by $1.5 million to allow for increased monitoring staff
by hiring 20 new positions. The additional funding would also include the hiring of additional medical staff
to provide comprehensive investigations of deaths in the City’s jails and carefully monitor DOC’soperations. This funding would also allow the Board to increase salaries for investigative field staff
commensurate with their experience.
New York City Commission on Human Rights Budget Restoration
The New York City Commission on Human Rights (CHR or the Commission) enforces New York City Human
Rights Law (NYCHRL), educates the public about their rights and responsibilities under NYCHRL, andprotects New Yorkers. The NYCHRL prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public
accommodations and is one of the most comprehensive antidiscrimination laws in the country. CHR
achieves its mission through law enforcement, community outreach, media, legislative, and policy work.
The Council calls on the Administration to enhance the Commission’s budget with an additional $4.4
million, increasing the Commission’s budget to $18 million in Fiscal 2025. This additional funding would
restore the budget for the Commission’s Law Enforcement Bureau to its pre-pandemic level and provide
necessary funds to enforce the Fair Chance for Housing Act, starting on January 1, 2025, when it takes
effect. Additionally, this enhancement should reinstate funding for CHR's source-of-income discrimination
work that protects potential tenants from unlawful discrimination by brokers or landlords refusing to rentor show them apartments, because they plan to use government assistance to pay rent. Source-of-income
discrimination frequently occurs, undermining rental assistance voucher programs’ ability to aid City
residents in accessing permanent housing. The CHR source-of-income unit is tasked with providing legal
support for voucher holders and taking enforcement actions against out-of-compliance property owners
but has been unable to address the level of need in the City due to funding reductions and the City’s hiring
freeze.

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Equal Employment Practices Commission Fully Fund Staffing Level
The Equal Employment Practices Commission (EEPC or the Commission) is an independent Commission
empowered by the New York City Charter to monitor and evaluate the employment programs, practices,
policies, and procedures of all City agencies to ensure that they maintain effective, affirmative
employment practices consistent with equal employment opportunity for protected groups employed byor seeking employment with the City of New York. There are 145 City entities within EEPC’s jurisdiction,and the Commission must audit these agencies at least once every four years to ensure their compliancewith city, state, and federal regulations and requirements. As of February 2024, EEPC’s had an actual
headcount of eleven positions. Given the Commission’s mandated responsibilities, the Council urges the
Administration to allocate an additional $500,000 to support the hiring of five additional positions to
support the Commission’s work. The additional staffing will include two auditors, two labor economists
or data scientists, and a counsel.
Department of Investigation Headcount Support to Enhance Oversight
The Council is concerned that, as a result of the Administration’s funding reduction initiatives, theDepartment of Investigation (DOI) does not have adequate funding to fulfill its vital mission to fightcorruption. The number of complaints DOI receives continues to increase as the investigative docketswells, yet the Department’s headcount has been declining, placing a greater strain on existing staff. In
addition, these headcount reductions limit DOI’s ability to conduct proactive data analysis andinvestigations. The Council calls upon the Administration to include an additional $1,222,500 in baselined
funding for the Department’s Personal Service costs. These funds will allow DOI to hire 18 additional
personnel, including 11 confidential investigators, two data analysts, one e-discovery manager, two digitalforensic analysts and two investigative auditors. In addition to the increased headcount, the funding will
support salary increases for certain titles, enabling DOI to improve retention and maintain its staff ofskilled workers. The expense request reflects essential operational needs for DOI to continue to carry out
its mission effectively and proactively.
Department of Building Inspector Position Restoration
The Council calls on the Administration to restore the $19 million for 207 Department of Buildings (DOB)
positions cut as part of the November and Preliminary Plan vacancy reductions. This would include therestoration of all the inspectorial, technical, and administrative staff removed, as well as 18 positions
eliminated from the Construction Safety Division. The additional headcount would alleviate the current
lack of vacancies in certain DOB positions such as boiler, electrical, and plumbing inspectors. It is essentialthat DOB has the necessary resources to regulate over one million City buildings and more than 43,000
active construction sites in New York.
Failure to Provide Building Inspector Access Penalty
The City should issue greater financial penalties for property owners who fail to give access for building
inspections. This would promote public safety and disincentivize dangerous construction, while also
providing increased revenue for the City. The Council calls on the Administration to impose a $500 penalty
on property owners when inspectors are prevented from accessing a property. The City’s Independent
Budget Office (IBO) estimates that such an increase would generate an additional $13 million annually.
Property owners would be able to reduce or eliminate the penalty if they permit access at a subsequent
inspection visit.
Get Sheds Down Penalties
In July 2023, the Mayor announced his plan to overhaul the rules governing sidewalk construction sheds
and scaffolding. The new rules were aimed at removing these sheds more quickly and to reimagine how
ones that are needed can be redesigned. The “Get Sheds Down” initiative would provide incentives toproperty owners to expedite façade repairs and to remove sheds with expired permits from public

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sidewalks. While incentives can sometimes motivate property owners to remove these sheds, increasedfines should also be a part of the “Get Sheds Down” initiative. IBO has suggested that upwards of ten
times the proposed revenue total of $15 million could be generated annually through changes to the Local
Law 11 fine schedule.
Lithium-Ion Battery Education, Outreach, and Swap
A recently enacted local law authorized the Fire Department and the Department of Consumer andWorker Protection to enforce violations related to the prohibition of the sale, lease, or rental of powered
mobility devices, like e-bikes, that fail to meet recognized safety standards. This law requires that online
sales of such devices display the certification of the accredited testing laboratory. In addition, it increases
penalties for illegal device sales, leases, or rentals, and repeated violations could lead to the closure of
the premises where such illegal devices are sold, leased or rented.
The local law’s enforcement functions will be strengthened by the City providing a lithium-ion battery
education, outreach, and trade-in program. The Council calls on the Administration to add $3 million to
support greater outreach about the risks of uncertified batteries and initiate a battery swap program,particularly for delivery workers relying on them.

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Enhancing Institutional Pillars of NYC
Cultural institutions, libraries, parks, and sanitation services are fundamental pillars of New York City
neighborhoods.
New York City’s world-renowned cultural institutions are integral to the enrichment and growth of theneighborhoods in which they reside. These institutions provide cultural enrichment to all audiences, butparticularly to students, many of whom lack access to cultural programs in their schools. Cultural
institutions also contribute immensely to the City’s economy, generating an estimated $22 billion in
annual economic activity, and increase patronage of local businesses. The Council urges the
Administration to reverse the November and Preliminary Plan PEGs that disproportionally impact theCity’s cultural institutions.
The City’s libraries are an essential presence in neighborhoods and provide a wide range of indispensable
services for New Yorkers of every age, including Toddler Time for the youngest children, after-school
homework help for students, adult literacy classes, workforce development, and technology classes forolder adults. Public libraries are critical to the success of every community. Yet, the Mayor’s November
Plan PEG eliminated Sunday library service for the City’s three library systems. The Council continues tochampion libraries as a funding priority and urges the Administration to reverse these reductions.
Parks are vital contributors to the physical and mental well-being of New Yorkers and communities. They
are necessary recreational spaces and green havens, improving the physical health of residents byproviding venues for recreational activities and open spaces that promote wellness. Parks also fostersocial interaction between residents of diverse backgrounds, serving as a platform for events andgatherings that are at the heart of community-building. All neighborhoods in our City deserve access toquality parks and pools. Yet, inequities remain in accessibility and quality across neighborhoods, while theCity dedicates a smaller proportion of its budget to parks than many of the nation’s big cities. As part of
the November and Preliminary Plan PEGs, several critical neighborhood services offered by the Parks
Department were reduced. The City must fully restore these cuts and provide additional programming toadvance the health and safety of New Yorkers, such as access to swim lessons and programs.
Cleanliness and proper sanitation services are crucial to the public health, safety, and equitable quality oflife of neighborhoods. They are also a critical component of sustainability and for confronting climatechange. The Council has been a consistent champion of securing funding restorations and resources forneighborhood sanitation services and the advancement of the City’s composting and organics collection
efforts. The Administration must support these services.
Cultural Institutions Funding Restoration
Millions of New York City schoolchildren, teachers, families, as well as domestic and international
audiences, access and enjoy the resources provided by cultural institutions. These institutions are integral
to the stability and growth of neighborhoods and to the City’s economy. In order to appropriately accountfor the needs of the City’s cultural institutions, the Council calls on the Administration to restore andbaseline the $40 million allocated in Fiscal 2024 for the Department of Cultural Affairs. These funds
support Cultural Institution Groups (CIGs), provide across-the-board grant increases for all Cultural
Development Fund (CDF) recipients, and support many of the City’s artists. Additionally, the Council urges
the Administration to restore the $20.1 million from its Fiscal 2024 PEG and $15.5 million that represents
its Fiscal 2025 PEG. To ensure that cultural institutions continue to serve as reliable community hubs andcan provide needed programs and services to New Yorkers, the Administration must provide $75.6 million
within the budget.

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Library Funding Restoration
The Council calls on the Administration to allocate an additional $58.3 million to the City’s three librarysystems to restore its series of funding cuts, avoid reduced hours and programming, and reinstate Sunday
library service. This funding would restore the baseline cut of $22.1 million to libraries’ budgets, reinstate
the one-shot funding of $20.5 million from Fiscal 2024, and cover the $15.7 million subsidy provided
through City Council discretionary funding at budget adoption last June. These commitments would makethe Fiscal 2025 budget for libraries commensurate with the adopted Fiscal 2024 funding level. Libraries
have an essential presence in every neighborhood of New York, providing indispensable services in a safeand reliable space for youth, seniors, immigrants, and other New Yorkers. Along with the increased costof programing and circulations, the systems have also experienced a rise in the cost of materials, staff,
and operating expenses. These additional funds are needed to help maintain our City’s libraries. The City’s
libraries strengthen community engagement and, with the addition of $58.3 million, the systems will nothave to continue with reduced hours, collections, services, or staff.
Parks Department Headcount PEG Restoration
The Department of Parks and Recreation’s (DPR) Fiscal 2025 budgeted headcount has been reduced by
659 positions since adoption of the Fiscal 2024 budget last year. These reductions are the result of theCity’s hiring freezes and vacancy reduction programs included in the Mayor’s PEGs. The Council calls on
the Administration to restore all 659 eliminated positions and provide $38.5 million to fund these
positions in the Parks Department so that the Department can continue to hire staff to improve the qualityof the City’s parks.
Urban Park Rangers, Tree Stump Removal, and Green Thumb Program Restoration
Each year at budget adoption, the Council negotiates for the restoration of funding for several of the Parks
Department’s key functions. Unfortunately, the funding for these services is rarely baselined. These funds
provide jobs to New Yorkers and fund various programs within the Department that improve parks. The
Council calls on the Administration to restore and baseline $11.2 million to fund 50 Urban Park Rangers,
forestry and natural areas maintenance, tree stump removal, and the GreenThumb program.
Second Shift Positions at the Department of Parks and Recreation Restoration
Funding for DPR’s second shift positions allows the Department to provide cleaning services at 100 hot
spots in 61 parks on weekends and evenings, ensuring that these sites are maintained properly. At theCouncil’s budget hearing on Parks, the Commissioner conveyed that this program would not be funded in
Fiscal 2025 due to budget cuts. Without appropriate funding, these positions will have to be reassigned
and reduced, resulting in dirtier parks. The Council calls on the Administration to baseline the $10 million
for this program, beginning in Fiscal 2025, to fully fund the second shift positions so that the 61 included
parks can continue to be properly maintained.
Litter Basket Service Restoration
In many parts of the City, overflowing litter baskets continue to be a quality-of-life issue. Over the years,
the Council has negotiated for one-time funding to support litter basket pickup service each year. Despite
these efforts, the Administration has failed to baseline funding to support this ongoing service. To address
overflowing litter baskets, the Council calls on the Administration to provide baseline funding of $22
million annually, beginning in Fiscal 2025, to maintain the same level of litter basket service in each district
throughout the five boroughs.
Community Composting Restoration
The November Plan included the elimination of vital community composting programs. These programs
were a partnership between the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and seven botanical gardens andnonprofits in the five boroughs. These organizations play an invaluable role in raising awareness, providing

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educational resources, fostering community engagement, and increasing composting. Without these
programs, the DSNY would not be able to effectively reach its goal of reducing the City's waste, severely
impacting the environment and public health. The Council calls on the Administration to support
community composting by fully restoring and baselining $7.1 million for these programs and extending
GrowNYC’s contract.
Hunts Point Produce Market
The Hunts Point Produce Market is an essential nexus for food distribution; the market not only bolsters
the local economy but is also pivotal in ensuring the nutritional health of millions of people in the region.
Nearly $400 million in capital grants have been secured from the City, State, and federal governments tomodernize and rehabilitate the market. However, an additional $200 million is still required to fullytransform the market. Closing this funding gap will help modernize the market, expand its capacity, andfortify its vital economic role. The Council calls on the Administration to provide an additional $200 million
in capital funding to fully fund this project.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTStrengthening Opportunity and Services
The City’s agencies are responsible for delivering essential services and New Yorkers rely on them for awide range of support. However, over the past few years, City agencies have fallen short of delivering on
this basic obligation due to insufficient resources and support for their operations. With rising rents andincreased cost of living enticing many New Yorkers to leave the City, it is now more critical than ever toensure that adequate investments are made in these vital services. The Administration should restore theimportant services it previously reduced and expand key services that can enhance opportunity andstability for New Yorkers. Ensuring the effective delivery of City services will help improve the overall wellbeing of New York City.
For New Yorkers with the greatest support needs, services must be delivered and done so in a timely
manner. Recently, some City agencies have been unable to provide basic services within an acceptable or
required timeline. For example, the timelessness rate for processing new Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) applications and re-certifications was 39.7 percent in Fiscal Year 2023 and 41.6
percent in the first four months of Fiscal 2024, far below the agency’s target of 90.6 percent. HRA’s Cash
Assistance timelessness rate for processing new applications and re-certifications was 28.8 percent in
Fiscal 2023 and 14.3 percent in the first four months of Fiscal 2024, compared to its target of 96 percent.
The caseloads for Cash Assistance have increased by 15.2 percent since February 2023. The processing of
housing vouchers is also out of sync with the level of need, as the current shelter census of 85,533 is 18
percent greater than at the same time last year when it was 72,449. Additional critical service delays areevident in response times to life-threatening medical emergencies, as the average end-to-end responsetime by ambulances has increased by 1 minute and 3 seconds, an 11 percent increase since 2021.
The effective and timely provision of services is directly tied to understaffing and the high numbers ofvacancies within agencies. There are currently more than 16,000 vacant positions across the City’sagencies. The Council has consistently called for the Administration to fill key vacancies that provide more
adequate staffing levels and reduce delays and backlogs in services. Attrition of staff who administer
benefit programs and other programs must be addressed by ensuring timely hiring and improving
retention efforts. It is particularly critical that the Administration act expeditiously to continue increasing
staffing levels at agencies like HRA and improving the delivery of vital safety net benefits to clients, andfor the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to expedite the intake process. The City should also pursue
improvements to technology and internal systems, while simplifying overly bureaucratic processes, toimprove turnaround times and help clients receive assistance in a timely manner.
The Council has put forward a proposal to create a pathway for CUNY students and participants in CUNY
programs to fill civil service jobs that have remained vacant. This would build on successful programs, like
CUNY Reconnect, to connect New Yorkers with jobs that can help them advance their careers whilestrengthening City government. The Council has also repeatedly advocated for improved pay parity
throughout the municipal workforce, especially for women and people of color. While some progress has
been made, inequities remain, with some City employees doing the same or similar work as theircounterparts in both the public and private sectors for lower wages. This issue affects a number of
positions, including lawyers and paralegals, emergency medical service workers, and early childhood
special education teachers. If the City hopes to be able to continue to provide the necessary level of criticalservice provision for New Yorkers, it is incumbent upon agencies to be able to recruit and retain quality
employees. Without continued progress on pay parity, retention and service provision will continue tosuffer, endangering the health and safety of our City.
Concurrently, the Administration must take the necessary steps to bolster its support for contracted nonprofits. We commend the Administration for working with the Council and non-profit human service

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providers to implement a nine percent cost of living adjustment over three years. Still, a growing numberof City contracted service providers have been experiencing delayed or outstanding contract paymentsfrom the City that threaten their organizations’ viability and ability to deliver services to New Yorkers.
Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the City’s administration of already-budgeted contract
dollars must be a top priority to avoid the destabilizing impacts on services and New Yorkers.
Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) Budget Cut Restoration
The Council calls upon the Administration to restore the $44.4 million in cuts in Department of Youth andCommunity Development programs from the November and Preliminary Plan. These cuts include baseline
reductions to some of the Department’s most utilized programs such as COMPASS, the Office of
Neighborhood Safety (ONS), and Summer Rising. These programs provide critical support for the City’s
young people as well as enhance public safety. The City should increase its investment in DYCD programs
that provide leadership, social, and workforce development tools for young people. In addition, thisfunding should be allocated to provide daily indoor and outdoor activities, as well as safe housing. An
increased commitment from the City to expand and strengthen these pathways to success will yieldcountless dividends for New Yorkers.
Shelter Provider Funding Restoration
The Fiscal 2024 Executive Plan included a baseline reduction of $36.2 million, a 2.5 percent net reduction,
to DHS shelter provider contract rates. Providers were required to identify five percent savings on theircontracts, with half of the savings retained by the providers allowed to be reinvested on costs related tostaff retention. DHS contended that many shelter providers were not spending all of the PS costs allowedin their contracts, but providers have indicated this underspending was due to contract inflexibility. While
providers were permitted to choose where to take the savings in their respective contracts, it forced someto eliminate positions. DHS shelter contracts have not been increased to keep pace with rising salaries
and operational costs, thus the reduction has exacerbated underfunding of homeless shelter providers.
The Administration should fully restore and baseline the $36.2 million to reinstate provider contractlevels.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Funding Restoration - Housing Navigators
In recent years, the homeless youth shelter system’s capacity has been severely strained. There is a criticalneed to restore funding for Housing Navigators that connect runaway and homeless youth to safe housing.
The Department of Youth and Community Development’s Housing Navigators assist those entering the
Runaway Homeless Youth (RHY) drop-in-centers to find permanent housing. Recent data shows that there
has been a six percent increase in youth exiting homelessness from DYCD shelters into their own
apartments between Fiscals 2021 and 2023, partly the result of Housing Navigators. The Council calls on
the Administration to restore and baseline $1.6 million, first provided in the Fiscal 2024 budget, for the
Housing Navigator positions to assist and connect homeless youth with safe housing.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Peer Navigators
The Council calls upon the Administration to restore $1.6 million for Runaway and Homeless Youth Peer
Navigators at DYCD funded Drop-in-Centers. Peer Navigators provide peer-to-peer support to some of themost vulnerable runaway and homeless youth and young adults in DYCD shelters. These navigators build
connections with young people, assisting in the assessment of their needs, problem solving, and selfadvocacy. This peer mentorship and its associated services, including financial tools and support, help
youth get on the path to more stable lives.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Residential Contracts
The Department of Youth and Community and Development must issue an RFP, allowing for changes tothe existing residential contracts, to reflect the growing needs of runaway and homeless youth. DYCD-

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funded RHY provider contracts continue to fall short of covering the actual cost of operating the programs.
The Council urges the Administration to increase each of the current DYCD-funded Crisis and Transitional
Independent Living (TIL) program contracts to $55,500 for a total cost of $5.5 million in Fiscal 2025 andthe outyears. This will cover the baselining of all residential bed rates across contract years, including a 10
percent increase for all currently DYCD-funded residential RHY contracts.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Beds
The Council has consistently urged the Administration to expand shelter capacity and services in the
Department of Youth and Community Development’s youth shelter system for young people experiencing
homelessness. There is still a significant need, and the increased number of young asylum seekers has
only added to the lack of available beds for runaway and homeless youth. The City should increase the
DYCD shelter system capacity, especially for RHY, so that vulnerable young people are not turned awaywhen seeking temporary housing options. The RHY population requires significant support and guidance
to successfully transition into permanent housing and self-sufficiency. The Council calls on the
Administration to invest $6.2 million to fund 100 additional shelter beds to house RHY and young adults.
Older Adult Center PEG Restoration
It is critical that the City’s investments and policies meet the diverse needs of the City’s nearly 1.8 million
older adults. In order to account for the ranging needs of this population, the Council calls on the
Administration to restore the $2.2 million baseline funding reduction for older adult centers that was
included in the Mayor’s Preliminary Plan. The Administration should also restore the $13.5 million
baseline cut included in the Mayor’s November Plan, which takes effect in Fiscal 2027. The total
restoration across the Financial Plan should include $2.2 million in Fiscals 2025 and 2026, growing to $15.7
million in Fiscal 2027 and beyond. Additionally, the Council calls on the City to issue a new request for
proposals (RFP) for older adult center contracts, which expire at the end of the 2024 calendar year. This
new RFP should account for the current needs of the City’s growing older adult population and the risingcosts of services. The City should not be reducing funding for older adult services without fully projecting
the level of need for the contract term. We need to ensure that older adult centers can remain open andfully operational to serve the wide range of needs of older adults across the City. The City’s communitybased providers should be allocated the resources needed to handle the growing number of participants
relying on older adult centers for programming and services.
Home-Delivered Meals for Older Adults Reimbursement Rate Increase
Older adults are the City’s fastest-growing age cohort, and many of them are food insecure, relying on
SNAP benefits and food pantries to meet their nutritional needs. NYC Aging’s Home Delivered Meals
program (HDM) provides an essential nutrition safety net for homebound older adults in need. In the
Fiscal 2024 Adopted Budget, the reimbursement rate for the HDM program was increased by $1.00 per
meal, bringing the rate to $12.78 per meal. Yet, providers facing rising food and fixed costs have continued
to express concern about HDM reimbursement rates. Providers estimate that the current average cost ofa meal is $15.31, $2.53 more per meal than they are reimbursed through their City contracts. The Council
calls on the Administration to increase the per meal reimbursement rate for HDMs to account for theproviders’ actual costs. Increasing the baseline funding by $12.7 million annually will enable the HDM
providers to better serve older adults.
Home Care and Case Management Older Adult Programs
The Council calls upon the Administration to add $13.3 million to NYC Aging’s budget for the home careand case management programs. NYC Aging funds home care services to help functionally impaired older
adults live safely at home. Home care services include assistance with personal care and housekeeping
services. While most home care in New York is offered by State-licensed home care services agencies, NYC
Aging’s home care services support qualified individuals who are not on Medicaid. The Council calls on

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the Administration to add $7 million in baselined funding to support the continued growth in demand in
NYC Aging’s home care program.
Case management agencies, contracted through NYC Aging, provide assessments, and link homeboundseniors with services, including HDMs, home care, information and referrals, and other supportive
programs. Case management services for older adults are provided through referrals from senior centers,
HDM providers, hospitals, and other community-based social service and health care agencies. The
Council calls on the Administration to add $6.3 million in baselined funding to clear the case management
waitlist and fully address the level of demand for this program.
Older Adult Centers Capital Funding Enhancement
Providers have expressed concerns about the infrastructure needs at many older adult centers across theCity, especially in the centers’ kitchens. Without the needed upgrades to kitchens at older adult centers,
providers will need to rely more heavily on outsourcing food preparation, which is both more expensive
and less nutritious. Investing further in NYC Aging’s Capital Plan would ensure the agency’s ability toeffectively deliver much needed services and programming to the City’s older adult population. The
Council calls on the Administration to increase capital funding for older adult centers by adding $50 million
to NYC Aging’s Capital Plan, with $10 million of this funding earmarked for centers that predominately
serve older adults who are immigrants.
Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Restoration
The Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) is the liaison between the City and the disability
community. MOPD ensures City initiatives, programs and policies address the needs and interests ofpeople with disabilities. The office regularly engages in advocacy and policymaking at the local, state,national, and international levels to ensure accessibility and full inclusion are key priorities for all public
and private stakeholders. MOPD’s Fiscal 2024 budget totaled $706,526. However, MOPD’s Fiscal 2025
budget in the Mayor’s Preliminary Plan is nearly 33 percent less than the adopted Fiscal 2024 budget. The
Council calls on the Administration to increase MOPD’s Fiscal 2025 budget by $230,000, bringing it in linewith the Fiscal 2024 Adopted Budget.
Community Food Connection Program
The Community Food Connection (CFC), formerly known as the Emergency Food Assistance Program(EFAP), provides an array of essential food items to emergency food providers across the City, including
food pantries and soup kitchens. For many years, the Council called on HRA to expand the food items
offered by the program. In Fiscal 2023, HRA revamped the program with a new contracted vendor
providing a wider variety of food options, including fresh fruits and vegetables. That same fiscal year, theCouncil negotiated with the Administration for a $30 million increase to the program’s baseline budget.
Yet, the increased funding was not baselined and only included in Fiscals 2023 and 2024. In the PreliminaryPlan, the Fiscal 2024 budget for CFC is $57 million, dropping to $25 million in Fiscal 2025, and further
declining to $21 million in Fiscal 2026 and in the outyears. Food insecurity has only been increasing andthe Council calls on the Administration to provide an additional $35 million in Fiscal 2025 and $39 million
in Fiscal 2026 and in the outyears to restore and enhance CFC funding. The additional funding will allow
the program to continue providing expanded and healthier food options, better addressing the rise infood insecurity.
Fair Fares Eligibility Expansion to 200 Percent of the Federal Poverty Level
In 2019, the Council successfully negotiated the launch of Fair Fares, a program administered by HRA thatoffers a 50 percent subsidy on public transit fares for residents with incomes up to 100 percent of thefederal poverty level (FPL), regardless of immigration status. The Council and Administration baselined
funding of the program in Fiscal 2023 to $75 million per year. As part of the Fiscal 2024 budget agreement,

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTthe Council successfully negotiated a baseline increase of $20 million for an expansion of eligibility from100 to 120 percent FPL. The expansion was implemented during Fiscal 2024 and increased the baselinebudget for Fair Fares to $95 million. To date, over 325,000 people have enrolled in Fair Fares, but there
are many low-income New Yorkers who struggle to afford public transit, yet are ineligible for the program.
Affordable access to the City’s public transit system can help New Yorkers access economic andeducational opportunities. The Council calls on the Administration to expand eligibility for Fair Fares toCity residents with incomes up to 200 percent of FPL to provide affordable transit for more low-income
individuals. This expansion would require an additional $54.2 million in baselined funding, bringing thetotal baseline budget for Fair Fares up to $149.2 million.
IDNYC Funding Restoration to Re-Open Centers, Resume Walk-In Appointments, and Improve
Processing Times
HRA's IDNYC program is a vital service for New Yorkers, including undocumented individuals, often
offering the only opportunity to obtain a government identification card. Since the onset of the pandemic,
HRA has been reducing the number of IDNYC centers, and as of January 29, 2024, HRA stopped accepting
walk-in clients and shifted to an appointment-only model. Since HRA stopped allowing walk-in clients,
there have been reports indicating that it is exceedingly difficult to obtain an appointment. Clients havefound that weekly appointments are limited, resulting in individuals waiting in line outside the offices in
the cold in hopes of obtaining in-person assistance. According to the Fiscal 2024 Preliminary Mayor’s
Management Report (PMMR), the number of applications processed and the number of IDNYC cards
issued both increased in Fiscal 2023, when compared to the prior fiscal year. PMMR also reported that asa result of increased demand, the timeliness of application processing declined in Fiscal 2023. HRA shouldallocate additional staff and resources to the IDNYC program, resume acceptance of walk-in clients, andincrease the number of IDNYC processing locations, especially in parts of the City with large immigrantcommunities. The Council calls on the City to restore the PEG savings that were included in the Fiscal 2023
Executive Plan for the IDNYC program, which totaled $3.4 million in Fiscal 2025 and $5.1 million in Fiscal
2026 and in the outyears. Additionally, the Administration should ensure there is adequate outreach toyoung adults in District 79 public schools so that they can get assistance with IDNYC applications.
Guaranteed Income Pilot Program
For the lowest income City residents, the challenge of securing basic needs makes it extremely difficult toaccess economic opportunities and achieve financial stability. Providing direct and targeted financial
assistance to New Yorkers at-risk of or living in poverty can significantly improve their health and wellbeing. At a time when one-in-four children in our City live in poverty, anti-poverty guaranteed income
programs can help reduce economic instability and promote success. The Council calls on the
Administration to fund guaranteed income programs, facilitated by Local Law 105 of 2023, that support
non-profit organizations piloting programs that provide direct monthly financial assistance payments tovulnerable young people and low-income mothers with infants. With a $5 million commitment towards
this anti-poverty program, the City can demonstrate national leadership.
Veterans Resource Centers in All 51 Council Districts
Veterans increasingly require support navigating the various U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs claims
and benefit programs. This growing need led to the establishment of Veterans Resource Centers in seven
City Council districts. To address the ever-increasing need for these services across the City, the Council
calls on the Administration to broaden the scope of this initiative to include all 51 City Council districts by
expanding and baselining funding for this program. The creation of 44 additional Veterans Resource
Centers is estimated to cost $4.4 million annually.

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Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Pilot Program
The Council recognizes the profound impact that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has on veterans.
The struggles of veterans dealing with PTSD, often on their own, underscores the need for innovative
approaches to treatment, such as the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories (RTM) program. RTM
employs exposure to the trauma memory at brief intervals with the goal of reducing PTSD symptoms. It isestimated that nearly 12 percent of veterans live with some type of PTSD. As a result, the Council calls on
the Administration to fund a $50,000 RTM pilot program to provide this trauma treatment to New York
City veterans impacted by PTSD.
Pathway for CUNY Students to City Careers and City Jobs
The Council has proposed the launch of an employment initiative, in partnership with District Council 37(DC37), with two tracks that can advance employment opportunities for New Yorkers and strengthen City
agencies. The first track would focus on creating career advancement pathways from CUNY programs, like
CUNY Reconnect, to positions in City government. This would have the dual benefit of helping the City
mitigate staff vacancies and attrition for certain hard-to-hire titles by tapping into CUNY programs, while
also supporting working New Yorkers’ advancement to better jobs through access to civil service careers,civil service exam prep, subsidized exam fees, and other support. The second track would provide seasonal
employment opportunities with City agencies for underemployed New Yorkers, helping them build work
experience and increasing their employment prospects. Upon completion of a one-year job with a City
agency, participants would have the skills necessary to apply for full-time positions. The Council calls on
the Administration to reutilize existing budgetary resources of $50.5 million, starting in the Fiscal 2025
budget for the creation of 1,000 positions, paid at the seasonal rate of $18.00 per hour for one year.
Emergency Medical Services Wage Parity
The FDNY’s emergency medical technicians (EMT) and paramedics earn less than their counterparts inother large U.S. cities and other health care workers, and substantially less than firefighters in the City.
Although EMS worker wages have risen slightly recently, this increase cannot be recognized as pay parity.
Considering the increase in response times for EMS services, the City needs to not only retain current
staff, but incentivize hiring for additional positions to meet the health needs of New Yorkers. The Council
requests that the Administration include wage parity in future contract discussions for EMS workers. The
Administration should also conduct an analysis to assess the cost of phasing in a salary increase for EMS
personnel, as well as modifying the Fire Department's (FDNY) wage scales for emergency medical
technicians and paramedics so that they are more in line with other higher paid emergency medical first
responders. The approximately 4,347 members of EMS, including EMTs and paramedics, provide a criticalservice to New Yorkers and should be adequately compensated for their work.
DYCD Adult Literacy
New York City is home to more than 3 million immigrants, making up approximately 36 percent of theCity’s total population. Since the spring of 2022, the City has experienced increased immigration with over
177,000 asylum seekers arriving in the City. Even before this recent migration, the City did not adequately
fund DYCD adult literacy programs. The programs provide adult basic education, English-language, highschool equivalency and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs, serving over 12,000 adultlearners. In 2023, DYCD rolled out a concept paper for adult literacy, followed by the release of its RFP for
Fiscals 2025 through 2027 earlier this year. This new RFP proposed funding ranges from $11.8 million to$12.9 million, which is a reduction of over $16.0 million compared to the amount in the Fiscal 2024
Adopted Budget. There are several concerns with this RFP and its reductions to the overall budget for
adult literacy. First, it would reduce the number of students served by 2,000 compared to recent years.
Second, the RFP lowers the per student reimbursement rate from the $2,700 per student level, suggestedby the Council and the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy (NYCCAL), to $1,300 per student. Third,

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by limiting the adult literacy programs to only 41 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs), the RFP limits
which programs can apply and be eligible for a contract. As a result, some Council districts would likely
not have adequate adult literacy program services. Overall, the new NTA policy dramatically limits thenumber of programs able to receive funding, and thus decreases the amount of people that would be able
to access adult literacy programs.
The Council calls on the Administration to provide an additional $10 million, restoring and baselining
DYCD-funded adult literacy programs in Fiscal 2025. This additional $10 million would restore some of the$16 million reduction in the new RFP, increase the per student rate, expand the number of NTAs
designated for funding, and provide funds for NTAs that wish to run borough-wide and/or citywide
programs.
Language Access Services for City Agencies
City agencies have been dealing with a shortage of translators and interpreters, as the need for translationand interpretation services has increased. Longtime immigrant communities and new arrivals require
language access to navigate City services. In Fiscal 2024, the Administration did not restore funding forlanguage access services for City agencies. The Council urges the Administration to restore and baseline$8.7 million for language services, starting in Fiscal 2025, and expanding these services to include theCity’s public hospitals, Department of Education, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection,
Department of Sanitation, and Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
Community Interpreter Bank and Language Services Restoration
To expand citywide language access, the Council is calling on the Administration to restore $3.8 million
for Fiscal 2024 and $3.8 million for Fiscal 2025 to expand the community interpreter bank and language
services worker cooperatives for African, Asian, Latin American, and Indigenous languages. The funding
will allow non-profit organizations to continue recruiting, training, and dispatching additional interpreters
and translators to client organizations serving limited English proficiency community members. With theincreased number of asylum seekers in the City, providers will be able to offer language services to both
longstanding and new immigrants for navigating City resources.
New York City Small Business Resource Network
The New York City Small Business Resource Network (SBRN) uses a comprehensive approach to small
business resiliency, offering free, personalized guidance and support to help businesses grow and thrive.
SBRN's unique service-delivery model places Business Support Specialists on the ground in neighborhoods
across the City, helping businesses connect to free resources from the public and private sectors. SBRN isa crucial resource for women, immigrant, and minority-owned businesses. Over three-quarters ofbusinesses served by SBRN are MWBEs and 61 percent are located in low- and moderate-income
communities. The Council calls on the Administration to provide $2.0 million for this program in Fiscal
2025, including the restoration of $500,000 and a $1.5 million enhancement.
Industrial Business Service Provider Support
The Council calls on the Administration to provide an additional $1.3 million to enhance the Department
of Small Business Service’s (SBS) Industrial Business Service Provider Support (IBSP) program. IBSP aims to
support business creation and growth by connecting businesses to money-saving initiatives, helping themnavigate government rules and regulations, and assisting them in the recruitment and training of
employees. This funding will provide additional support for the IBSP, particularly as it relates to the
Mayor’s Zoning for Economic Opportunity (ZEO) proposal. This funding and support are needed to ensurethat the industrial sector and the manufacturing zones where these businesses operate are preserved,
and the mid-to-high wage industrial sector job opportunities with low barriers to entry are prioritized.

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Community Development Financial Institutions
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) promote economic development by providing
financial products and services to people and communities underserved by traditional financial
institutions, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. The Council urges the Administration to provide$1 million to fund CDFIs to create programs that specifically support under-represented entrepreneurs,
MWBEs, and small businesses. Additionally, the Council strongly believes in creating pathways to selfsufficiency, and advocates that the Administration extend this support to entrepreneurs with past justicesystem-involvement.
Immigration Legal Services Enhancement
The cost of providing legal services for asylum seekers arriving in the City continues to increase. Longtime
immigrant New Yorkers and newly arrived asylum seekers alike require immigration legal services, andreports from immigration attorneys claim that there is currently a nationwide backlog of more than 3.2
million cases. Legal professionals urge the City and the State to provide additional funding to ensure thatthose in need of legal services can be represented by an attorney. This should include funding for theoutyears of the Plan, as immigration procedures and cases can take up to seven years to complete. Legal
service providers are in desperate need of additional attorneys to handle the surge in immigration cases.
The Council calls on the Administration to restore funding to Fiscal 2024 levels by providing an additional$4.4 million to the baseline for immigration legal services. Furthermore, the Council calls on the
Administration to allocate an additional $50 million to enhance the program to meet the growing needs
for these services.
Vision Zero Education and Outreach Funding Restoration
Despite the hundreds of traffic fatalities each year in the City, the Preliminary Plan included a $3 million
baseline reduction, starting in Fiscal 2024, for Vision Zero education and outreach. Vision Zero is a citywide
initiative to eliminate traffic incidents leading to death and serious injuries. According to the Fiscal 2024
PMMR, there were 260 traffic deaths across the City in Fiscal 2023, including 143 bicyclists and pedestrians
and 97 motorists and passengers. In the first four months of Fiscal 2024, there were 93 citywide traffic
fatalities, including 45 motorists and passengers and 39 bicyclists and pedestrians. At the current rate, thenumber of traffic deaths in Fiscal 2024 will exceed the prior year by over 7 percent. In order to continue
important outreach and educational efforts that change behaviors and prevent traffic fatalities, theCouncil calls on the Administration to fully restore and baseline this $3 million. In addition, theAdministration should continue to prioritize equitable street safety resources such as daylighting andother traffic calming measures, particularly in communities of color that disproportionately lack theseinfrastructure investments.
Noise Camera Program
With the enactment of local law to create a permanent noise camera program in all five boroughs, theCity should allocate adequate funding to ensure its success. Noise cameras better equip the City to combat
noise pollution and keep communities healthy. The Council calls on the Administration to provide thenecessary funding for installing thirteen additional noise cameras in each borough. The Council estimatesthat this would require an additional $455,000 in capital funds for the purchase of these cameras.
Illegal Dumping Cameras Expansion Citywide
Expanding the current illegal dumping camera enforcement program in New York City is imperative tocombat the persistent issue of these waste management violations and environmental degradation. By
strategically placing more surveillance cameras in areas prone to illegal dumping, authorities can deter
offenders and capture evidence for prosecution, thereby fostering a cleaner and safer urban environment
for residents. With urban sprawl and population density exacerbating waste management challenges, an
expanded camera program can serve as a crucial tool in enforcing regulations and holding violators

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accountable, ultimately promoting civic responsibility and sustainability. The Council calls on the
Administration to support the addition of $3.6 million of capital funds to increase the number ofenforcement cameras in the City by 50 percent.
Pump Trucks for Flooded Areas
In many low-lying flood-prone areas of New York City, the deployment of pump trucks is essential tomitigate the damage caused by flooding. These specialized vehicles are equipped to swiftly remove excesswater from streets, basements, and other vulnerable areas, minimizing structural damage and preventing
waterborne hazards. Given the increased frequency of hazardous weather events, the City has become
more susceptible to storms and rising sea levels. As a result, the availability of pump trucks plays a criticalrole in ensuring rapid response and effective flood management, safeguarding property and public safety.
The Council calls on the Administration to support capital funding of $625,000 for the provision of one
additional pump truck in each borough. In addition, the Council calls on the Administration to apply forfederal and State grants to upgrade New York City’s storm water and sewer systems. The City should
consider all available funding sources and prioritize communities with the highest need.
Decarbonization Funding Restoration and Expansion
The Council calls on the Administration to restore the $294.8 million in capital funding reductions initiatedin the Preliminary Capital Plan, to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ (DCAS) energy
conservation and green energy projects. The Administration should invest an additional $100 million incapital funding to ensure that the City is able to reach the required 40 percent greenhouse gas emissions
reduction target in Fiscal 2025, as established in Local Law 97 of 2019, and to drive the market to help
reduce costs for homeowners related to the law.
City Clerk Restoration and Project Cupid
The Council calls on the Administration to allocate $1 million to support the City Clerk's day-to-day
operations. This funding would provide the Clerk's Office with the resources needed to appropriately
perform its duties, including attesting leases and deeds of City property, grants, agreements, bonds, tax
notes, and other forms of obligations of the City. In addition, the Clerk also attests to all legislation desiredby and affecting the City, requiring concurrent action by the State Legislature. A portion of these funds
would allow the City Clerk to continue to operate the Project Cupid system until it can be properly
upgraded and re-platformed. The Fiscal 2024 budget included a one-year addition of $290,000 for the City
Clerk, which should be baselined starting in Fiscal 2025, with the additional $725,000 in one-time funds
to keep the Project Cupid marriage licensure and services system running for one full year. Additionally,
the Council urges the Administration to provide $2 million in capital funds to modernize the City Clerk’s
IT infrastructure, allowing it to better process Project Cupid, fees, payments, and electronic records.

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Improving Transparency and Providing Savings
CapitalThe Preliminary Capital Commitment Plan for Fiscals 2024 – 2028 totals $88.5 billion, which is $5.9 billion
or 6.2 percent less than the Adopted Capital Commitment Plan. This reduction included the delaying of
hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of capital projects, pushing them out into the outyears of the tenyear plan, as well as the elimination of funding for several projects, some of which had alreadycommenced their early phases of design. The Administration’s stated rationale for making these changes
to the capital plan was that the City was nearing the limit of its debt capacity.
The formula for determining the City’s General Obligation (GO) Debt capacity is set in the State
constitution, based on the value of the City’s properties. According to the City Comptroller, at the startof Fiscal 2024 the City’s outstanding debt was $37.2 billion below the City’s constitutional GO debt limit
of $131.6 billion. However, the debt limit is projected to grow by roughly 3 percent per year, while total
indebtedness against the limit is projected to grow at an annual rate of 10 percent. As a result, theheadroom for additional debt is expected to shrink from the current $37.2 billion to $27.7 billion by Fiscal
2027. By Fiscal 2033, the Comptroller estimates that the City could reach its debt ceiling, shutting off theCity’s ability to finance its capital projects.
State law exempts a certain portion of Transitional Finance Authority (TFA) debt from the debt limit
calculation. Currently, $13.5 billion of TFA debt is excluded. The Administration had sought approval fromthe State to increase the amount excluded from the debt limit. As a result, the Governor’s Executive
Budget included a proposal which would raise the exemption amount by $12 billion over the next two
years.
It appears likely that the Governor’s proposal to authorize the increase of the TFA will be included in the
Adopted State budget. As a result, the Council calls on the Administration to rescind the cuts and delays
to the capital program that were initiated in the Preliminary Plan. This should include restoring hundredsof millions of dollars for critical capital projects in the City’s libraries and cultural institutions, and nearly$150 million of CUNY capital projects that were cut and hundreds of millions more that were pushed into
the outyears of the Plan period. Without this funding, projects are at risk of being paused due to theinability to cover shortfalls.
Units of Appropriation
According to the New York City Charter, each unit of appropriation is permitted to encompass only “theamount requested for a particular program, purpose, activity or institution.” Although U/As are intended
to provide highly descriptive information to ensure the Council and the public’s understanding of agency
spending and performance, the Preliminary Plan falls short of this level of transparency.
The Council recognizes the significant steps taken to provide additional transparency in the past two fiscal
years. The Fiscal 2024 Adopted Budget included 11 new U/As including five for the NYPD, four for the
DOC, and three for HRA, while the Fiscal 2023 Adopted Budget included 18 new U/As. Despite the progress
made with these recent additions, there are still many agency budgets that still lack adequatetransparency. Across agencies, the U/As included in the expense budget are overly broad and wideranging, violating the Charter’s requirements and limiting the Council’s ability to set and maintain budget
priorities. Creating more focused U/As aligned with agency programs would give the Council greater
ability to conduct better and more thorough oversight of agencies and allow the budget to be adopted ona program basis. Narrower U/As would also clearly demonstrate the Mayor’s priorities and permit theCouncil to exercise its existing legal authority to adjust program funding levels as it sees fit. Lack of proper

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTalignment of agency programmatic functions in U/As, as currently exists, creates a clouded representationof the City’s priorities.
The Council is also empowered by the Charter to approve significant midyear changes to the expensebudget through the budget modification process. The use of overly broad U/As allows the Administration
to bypass this process and move money between programs without Council input or authorization. The
Budget Function Analysis document (BFA) is a supplementary report released with the Preliminary,
Executive, and Adopted Budgets, that provides headcount, expenditures, and appropriations byfunctional area for both personal services and other than personal services. The Council has long called
upon the Administration to overhaul the City’s expense budget structure to create and reorganize the
U/As in the budget to correspond to actual programs that mirror the BFA.
While the BFA provides a more programmatic view of each agency’s budget, it still fails to provide theactual number of positions, number of budgeted and actual contracts, and actual spending by funding
source for each program area within a function. Furthermore, over time, the BFA has not captured all thefunctional and operational changes introduced by the participating agencies. If operational changes are
not mirrored in the BFA, the report’s usefulness is limited. Still, the BFA provides a good starting point foran overhaul of the City’s expense budget.
While the Council did negotiate several new U/As in the past fiscal year, more can and should be done to
add further transparency in the City’s budget. Therefore, the Council continues to call for an overhaul of
the City’s expense budget structure to create and reorganize the U/As in the budget so that theycorrespond to actual programs. Appendix A includes the list of new U/A’s that the Council recommends
for consideration.
Mayor’s Management Report
The Mayor’s Management Report and the Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report are critical tools for
tracking and evaluating the City government’s performance and operations. However, after conducting athorough review of the structure and content of the Fiscal 2024 PMMR, the Council has identified several
areas for improvement. Several broad recommendations and agency specific recommendations for theforthcoming MMR are listed in Appendix B.
Contract Budget
Rather than instituting blunt across-the-board PEGs, it is long past time to conduct a thorough review ofspending on contractual services. Undoubtedly many agencies have reduced their contracting in certain
areas as part of the PEGs undertaken by this Administration. Nonetheless, the Fiscal 2025 budget includes
over $22.2 billion for contracts, more than 20 percent of the entire Fiscal 2025 budget. There are
numerous examples of items the City should not be contracting for when the City is struggling to maintainlevels of service provision. Many of the outsourced services can and should be executed by City workers.
The City should set a goal to slow the growth of spending on contractual services in future years.
During many City Council hearings, both on the Preliminary Plan and general oversight hearings
throughout the year, the Council has been made aware of the issues involving emergency contracting.
Over the last four years, first during the pandemic and then with the influx of asylum seekers, theAdministration has sought to utilize emergency contracting as a means of expediting the process. Whileemergency contracts are appropriate for certain circumstances, the Administration has tended to overutilize the option in areas where it may not be necessary and for overly long periods of time, extending
past what would traditionally be considered an emergency. Because emergency contracts do not need toadhere to many of the strict requirements set forth in the City’s procurement rules, they tend to end up
costing the City more and, in some cases, result in fraud and waste. The Council calls on the

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Administration, in conjunction with the Comptroller, to better formalize the system for utilizing
emergency contracts in order to reduce the City’s costs and liabilities.
Tax Expenditures
To reduce the outyear gaps in the Financial Plan without affecting services, the Council calls on the
Administration to undertake a holistic and detailed review of the $3.1 billion in annual economic
development tax breaks and actively work to improve the efficiency of this suite of benefits. This review
should build off the collaborative work undertaken by the Council and the Independent Budget Office toeither end or reform tax breaks that are found to be inefficient or ineffective.
For example, in a 2018 study requested by the Council, the IBO evaluated the Commercial Revitalization
Program (CRP) and the Commercial Expansion Program (CEP), which collectively cost the City over $20
million annually in recent years. IBO’s analysis did not find any employment growth or commercial vacancy
rates impact in the areas targeted by these programs. While the City faces serious headwinds to theCommercial Office sector, and investment to support this sector may be warranted, it is folly to continue
to support a program that has no positive impact. This is one example of a program that should either bereformed or ended.
Tax expenditures are often multiyear, with some lasting for 30 years, which can mean that efficiency
improvements and budgetary savings are often slow to be realized. This unfortunately has led to a lack offocus by the Administration on this topic as it has concerned itself much more with addressing immediate
fiscal stress rather than considering the long-term impact of inefficient tax breaks. However, theAdministration should be able to address current fiscal stress while keeping its eye focused on the horizon.
To that end, the Administration should support and expand the Council’s efforts and undertake regularreviews of its slate of tax expenditures to ensure that the intended goals are still relevant, and if so, thatthe expenditures are efficiently achieving their purpose. The Administration should also actively support
the Council’s State legislative requests in this area, including providing business tax data to IBO to aid in
their evaluations of economic development tax expenditures, greater local authority to end or curtail
ineffective tax expenditures, and to allow the City to require data necessary for future evaluation as partof tax exemption applications. Finally, the Administration should proactively work to end or reform tax
breaks that have been shown to be ineffective.

47

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTAppendix A – Proposed U/As#

Agency #Agency1

Multiple

Multiple

2

068

ACS

3

068

ACS

4

068

ACS

5

068

ACS

6

7

8

9

10

11

042

042

042

042

042

042

CUNY

CUNY

CUNY

CUNY

CUNY

CUNY

Current Program Area
(BFA) or U/A

Various U/As
Foster Care Services(BFA)
Foster Care Support(BFA)
Juvenile Justice - Secure
Detention, Non-Secure
Detention, and Juvenile
Justice Support (BFA)
Preventive Services(BFA)
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS

Proposal
Asylum Seeker Response Funding - Create
U/A Pairs in All Agencies with Funding
Foster Care Services - Create U/A Pair
Foster Care Support - Create U/A Pair
Secure Detention, Non-Secure Detention,
and Juvenile Justice Support - Create U/A
Pairs

Description
For any agency (this should include, but not be limited to, DHS, H+H, HPD, NYCEM, DCAS, and DYCD) involved in theCity's asylum seeker response efforts, new dedicated U/A pairs should be added isolate the asylum response funds
to provide better transparency on budgeted and actual spending that can be more accurately tracked.
Foster Care Support and Services are split across three U/As that also include other programs. Foster Care Services
should have its own U/A pair (PS and OTPS) that is fully aligned with the BFA program area.
Foster Care Support and Services are split across three U/As that also include other programs. Foster Care Supportshould have its own U/A pair (PS and OTPS) that is fully aligned with the BFA program area.

Preventive Services - Create U/A Pair

The program areas that fall under Juvenile Justice are split between three U/As, one for PS and two for OTPS. For
transparency, each of these distinct program areas should have their own U/A pairs that are fully aligned with the
BFA.
Preventive Services are split between two large U/As that also include other programs. Preventive Services shouldhave its own U/A pair (PS and OTPS) that is fully aligned with the BFA program area.

Borough of Manhattan Community College- Create a U/A Pair

Currently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

Bronx Community College - Create a U/A
Pair

Currently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

Guttman Community College - Create a
U/A PairCurrently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

Hostos Community College - Create a U/A
Pair

Currently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

Kingsborough Community College - Createa U/A Pair

Currently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

LaGuardia Community College - Create a
U/A PairCurrently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.

48

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

12

042

CUNY

13

902

DABX

14

903

DAKC

15

901

DANY

16

904

DAQC

17

905

DARC

Current Program Area
(BFA) or U/A
U/As 001 and 002 Community College
OTPS, Community
College PS
U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS
U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS
U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS
U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS
U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS

18

126

DCLA

U/A 022 - Other
Cultural Institutions

19

826

DEP

20

125

DFTA

U/A 004 - Utility
Administration andContract Agency
Support (BFA)

21

125

DFTA

Case Management(BFA)

Case Management - Create U/A Pair

22

125

DFTA

Senior Centers andMeals (BFA)

Home-Delivered Meals - Create OTPS U/A

23

125

DFTA

Senior Centers andMeals (BFA)

Senior Centers and Meals - Create U/A Pair

24

125

DFTA

Senior Employment andBenefits (BFA)

Senior Employment and Benefits - Create
U/A Pair

25

125

DFTA

Senior Services - Create U/A Pair

26

071

DHS

Senior Services (BFA)
Adult Shelter
Administration andSupport (BFA)

27

071

DHS

Adult Shelter Intake andPlacement (BFA)

Adult Shelter Intake and Placement - PS
U/A#

Agency #AgencyProposal

Queensborough Community College Create a U/A Pair
Bronx DA - Create U/A Pair for Executive
and Administrative
Brooklyn DA - Create U/A Pair for Executive
and Administrative
Manhattan DA - Create U/A Pair for
Executive and Administrative
Queens DA - Create U/A Pair for Executive
and Administrative
Staten Island DA - Create U/A Pair for
Executive and Administrative
Separate out the 16 Cultural Institution
Group (CIG) organizations into their own
separate OTPS U/As
Split into two U/As - City and Non-City
Administration and Contract Agency
Support - Create U/A Pair

Adult Shelter Administration and Support Create U/A Pair

Description
Currently, community college funding is consolidated within two U/As that capture spending for all community
colleges as well as CUNY's Central Administration. New U/A pairs should be created for each community college,
001 and 002 would then remain for central administration only.
Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.
Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.
Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.
Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.
Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.
Currently 18 out of 34 CIGs have their own U/A while 16 are lumped together as Other Cultural Institutions in U/A
022 which makes it too difficult to analyze their individual budgets.
Split this U/A into two new U/A with one containing OTPS costs for upstate utility and operations and one containing
in-City utility and operations OTPS costs.
The Administration and Contract Agency Support BFA program area is split across five U/As which include otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on eachprogram area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Case Management BFA program area is split across three U/As which include other programs. New U/As should
be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program area budget andso that spending can be more accurately tracked.
Currently DFTA's home-delivered meals contracts are budgeted within the Senior Centers and Meals BFA program
area and the Out-of-Home-Services U/A, each of which includes other programs. This restricts budget transparency
for home-delivered meals. A new BFA program area and correspondingly aligned U/A should be created to increase
budget transparency.
The Senior Centers and Meals BFA program area is split between two U/As. New U/As should be added that fullyalign with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending canbe more accurately tracked.
The Senior Employment and Benefits BFA program area is split across four U/As. New U/As should be added thatfully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending
can be more accurately tracked.
The Senior Services BFA program area is split across all six of the Agency's U/As. New U/As should be added thatfully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending
can be more accurately tracked.
The Adult Shelter Administration and Support BFA program area is in one OTPS and two PS U/As that are sharedwith several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Adult Shelter Intake and Placement BFA program area is in one PS that is shared with several other programs.
A new U/A should be added that fully aligns with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.

49

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

Agency #AgencyCurrent Program Area
(BFA) or U/A
Adult Shelter
Operations and Family
Shelter Operations(BFA)

Proposal
Adult Hotel Shelters and Family Hotel
Shelters - Create new BFA program areawith a U/A Pair for each

28

071

DHS

29

071

DHS

30

071

DHS

Adult Shelter
Operations (BFA)
Family Shelter
Administration andSupport (BFA)

31

071

DHS

Family Shelter Intake
and Placement (BFA)

Family Shelter Intake and Placement Create a PS U/A

32

071

DHS

Family Shelter
Operations (BFA)

Family Shelter Operations - Create U/A Pair

33

071

DHS

34

071

DHS

General Administration(BFA)
Outreach, Drop-in, andReception Services
(BFA)

DHS

Rental Assistance andHousing Placement
(BFA)

35

071

36

071

DHS

37

072

DOC

38

072

DOC

39

072

DOC

40

072

DOC

Various U/As
Admin - Academy andTraining (BFA)
Admin - Management &Administration (BFA)
Operations Infrastructure &Environmental Health(BFA)
Operations - Rikers
Security & Operations
(BFA)

41

040

DOE

Various U/As

Adult Shelter Operations - Create U/A Pair
Family Shelter Administration and Support- Create U/A Pair

General Administration - Create U/A Pair
Outreach, Drop-in, and Reception Services Create U/A Pair

Transfer remaining funds and close out
Remove holding codes from DHS's budget
and transfer funding to the appropriate
BFA program areas, U/As, and budget
codes
Admin-Academy and Training - Create U/APair
Admin-Management & Administration Create U/A Pair

Description
There is no transparency on hotel shelter spending because it is lumped together with the other shelter expenses.
A new and separate BFA program area should be created for hotel shelters that house adults and hotel shelters thathouse families, each with a fully aligned unique U/A pair.
The Adult Shelter Operations program is in one PS and two OTPS U/As that are each shared with several otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on eachprogram area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Family Shelter Administration and Support BFA program is in one PS and one OTPS U/A that are each sharedwith several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Family Shelter Intake and Placement BFA program is in one PS and one OTPS U/A that is shared with several
other programs. accurately tracked. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide
better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Family Shelter Operations BFA program area is in one OTPS and two PS U/As that are shared with several otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on eachprogram area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The General Administration BFA program area is in two PS and two OTPS U/As that are shared with several otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on eachprogram area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Outreach, Drop-in, and Reception Services BFA program is in two OTPS and two PS U/As that are shared withseveral other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
These services were transferred to HRA's budget several years ago but in Fiscal 2024 $8 million in funding remains
as well as 70 positions which are baselined across all years in the Plan. The funding and headcount should betransferred to the correct agency, BFA program area, and U/A and then this BFA program area should be closed out
and removed.
The excessive use of holding codes limits transparency and makes it hard to track program budgets. As of thePreliminary Plan there are negative funding amounts of ($55 million) budgeted in holding codes in Fiscal 2024,
increasing to ($103.8 million) in Fiscals 2025 and 2026, and then to ($106.2 million) in Fiscal 2027.
Create U/A pair fully aligned with the BFA program area.
Create U/A pair fully aligned with the BFA program area.

Operations-Infrastructure & Environmental
Health - Create U/A Pair

Create U/A pair fully aligned with the BFA program area.

Operations-Rikers Security & Operations Create U/A Pair
School Health and Wellness - Create a new
Create U/A Pair

Create U/A pair fully aligned with the BFA program area.
Move all costs related to school health, mental health and nurses to a new U/A pair. All non-special education healthservices should be budgeted with these U/As.

50

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

Agency #Agency

42

040

DOE

Current Program Area
(BFA) or U/AU/A 481 and 482 Categorical Programs

Eliminate U/As

Carter Cases - Create an OTPS U/ARestorative Justice Programming - Create a
U/A Pair

Proposal

43

040

DOE

44

040

DOE

U/A 472 - Contract
Schools/Foster/CH 683
Payments
U/As 401, 402, 407,
415, 416, 453, 481, 482

45

040

DOE

U/As 407, 408 Universal Pre-K

46

781

DOP

U/As 002 and 003 Probation Services

Pre-K and 3K - Create 2 U/A Pairs
Juvenile Supervision and Adult Supervision- Create U/A Pair for each type of probation
service

47

841

DOT

Various U/As and BFAs

Streets Plan - Create a U/A Pair

48

846

DPR

49

260

DYCD

50

260

DYCD

51

260

DYCD

52
53

260
260

DYCD
DYCD

54

260

DYCD

55

260

DYCD

56

260

DYCD

57
58

260
806

DYCD
HPD

59
60

806
806

HPD
HPD

Urban Park Service(BFA)
Adult Literacy Services(BFA)
Beacon Community
Centers (BFA)
Community
Development (BFA)
General Administration(BFA)
In-School Youth (BFA)
Other Youth Programs(BFA)
Out-of-School Time
(BFA)
Out-of-School Youth(BFA)
Summer Youth
Employment Program(BFA)
Administration (BFA)
Administration Program(BFA)
Development (BFA)

Parks Enforcement Patrol - Create U/A Pair

Description
This U/A pair co-mingles several distinct programs and obscures where City, State, and federal grants are supporting
budgets. Budgets should be shifted to appropriate U/As relating to the programmatic use of the funds.
Currently costs associated with due process cases (known as Carter and Connor Cases) are combined and included
together in budget code 2127. This proposal would require that DOE create a separate U/A for all due process costs
and differentiate out within, which costs go to Carter, Connor, and other due process cases and related costs byusing separate budget codes for each.
Create a new U/A pair for Restorative Justice programming that is currently budgeted across several U/As.
Currently, DOE's 3K Pre-K spending is spread over PS and OTPS U/As that also include other programs. This proposal
would have the U/As split by Pre-K and 3-K so that programming associated with each would be in their own PS andOTPS pair. Additionally, spending on marketing and advertising would get its own budget code within all applicable
U/As, so that you could see how much of this is spent on marketing for each program.

Break up larger Probation Services U/A pair into Adult and Juvenile U/A pairs to reflect different programs.
DOT has not met its legally mandated requirements for the construction of multiple aspects of the City Streets Plan.
This new U/A pair will provide greater oversight and transparency into the amount that is budgeted and spent
related to the Streets Plan.
Currently there is minimal transparency when it comes to PEP officers funding. To ensure better oversight andtransparency we recommend a new U/A pair specific to PEP officers that is fully aligned with a new BFA program
area.

Adult Literacy Services - Create a U/A Pair
Beacon Community Centers - Create a U/A
PairCommunity Development - Create a U/A
Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

General Administration - Create a U/A Pair
In-School Youth - Create a U/A Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.
Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

Other Youth Programs - Create a U/A Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

Out-of-School Time - Create a U/A Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

Out-of-School Youth - Create a U/A Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

Summer Youth Employment Program Create a U/A Pair
Administration - Create a U/A Pair

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.
Create a new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.

Administration Program - Create a U/A Pair
Development - Create a U/A Pair

Create a new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create a new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.

Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.
Create U/A pairs that are fully aligned to the BFA program areas.

51

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

Agency #Agency

61

806

HPD

Current Program Area
(BFA) or U/A
Housing Operations Emergency Housing(BFA)

Adult Protective Services - Create U/A Pair

Proposal
Housing Operations - Emergency Housing Create a U/A Pair

62

069

HRA

Adult Protective
Services (BFA)

63

069

HRA

CEO Evaluation (BFA)

CEO Evaluation - Create U/A Pair

64

069

HRA

Employment Services
Administration (BFA)

Employment Services Administration Create U/A Pair

65

069

HRA

Employment Services
Contracts (BFA)

Employment Services Contracts - Create
U/A Pair

66

069

HRA

Food Assistance
Programs (BFA)

Food Assistance Programs - Align the U/As
fully with BFA program areas

67

069

HRA

Food Stamp Operations(BFA)

Food Stamp Operations - Create U/A Pair

68

069

HRA

General Administration(BFA)

General Administration - Create U/A Pair

69

069

HRA

HIV and AIDS Services(BFA)

HIV and AIDS Services - Create U/A Pair

70

069

HRA

Home Energy
Assistance (BFA)

Home Energy Assistance - Align the U/As
fully with BFA program areas

71

069

HRA

Homeless Prevention(BFA)

Homeless Prevention - OTPS U/A

HRA

Homeless Prevention(BFA)

Rental Assistance - Create a new BFA
program areas and new fully aligned U/Apairs for each rental assistance program

72

069

Description

Create a new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Adult Protective Services is split across a PS and OTPS U/A that are each shared with several other programs. New
U/As should be added that fully align with the BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
CEO Evaluation is split across a PS and OTPS U/A that are each shared with several other programs. New U/As
should be added that fully align with the BFA program areas to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
Employment Services Administration is split across two PS and two OTPS U/As that are all shared with several
other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with the BFA program areas to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
Employment Services Contracts is split between a PS and OTPS U/A that are each shared with several otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency oneach program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Food Assistance Program BFA is not fully aligned with the U/As, some of the funding is found in the Adult
Services PS and OTPS U/As. Additionally, some of the funding in the Food Assistance U/As is found in the General
Administration BFA program area. The Food Assistance Programs U/As and BFA should be fully aligned.
The Food Stamp Operations BFA program area is split across one OTPS and three PS U/As that are each sharedwith several other programs. The current U/As should be fully aligned with the BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The General Administration BFA program area split across eleven PS and OTPS U/As that all shared with several
other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency
on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The HIV and AIDS Services BFA program area is split across one OTPS and two PS U/As that all each shared withseveral other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Home Energy Assistance BFA program area is not fully aligned with the U/As, some of the funding is found in
the Administration PS U/A. Additionally, some of the funding in the Home Energy Assistance U/As is found in the
General Administration BFA program area. The Home Energy Assistance U/As and BFA should be fully aligned.
The Homeless Prevention BFA program area is in an OTPS U/A that is shared with several other programs. New
U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program areas to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
Rental Assistance programs are budgeted in an OTPS U/A that is shared with several other programs. They arewithin the Homeless Prevention BFA, which is also shared with other programs. There are 12 different budget
codes reflecting the different rental assistance programs however upon the Administration's own admission thebudget codes do not accurately reflect the allocation for each program because the funding is flexible between
the different programs. More clarity is needed on how much funding is going into each of the different rental
assistance programs, especially CityFHEPS, through new fully aligned U/A pairs and BFA program areas for eachsuch program. Additionally, the headcount related to rental assistance program administration is combined withother program areas, it is not clear which, and should be aligned with the new Rental Assistance BFAs and thematching PS U/As.

52

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

Agency #AgencyCurrent Program Area
(BFA) or U/A

Proposal
Information Technology Services - Create
U/A PairInvestigations and Revenue Admin - Create
U/A Pair

73

069

HRA

Information Technology
Services (BFA)

74

069

HRA

Investigations andRevenue Admin (BFA)

75

069

HRA

Legal Services (BFA)

76

069

HRA

Medicaid andHomecare (BFA)

Legal Services - Align the U/As fully with
BFA program areas
Medicaid and Homecare - Create separate
BFA program areas for each with their own
U/A Pairs

77

069

HRA

Medicaid andHomecare (BFA)

Medicaid and Homecare - Create U/A Pair

78

069

HRA

Medicaid Eligibility and
Admin (BFA)

Medicaid Eligibility and Admin - Create U/A
Pair

79

069

HRA

Office of Child Support Enforcement - Align
the U/As fully with BFA program areas

80

069

HRA

Office of Child Support
Enforcement (BFA)
Public Assistance and
Employment Admin
(BFA)

81

069

HRA

Public Assistance Grants
(BFA)

82

069

HRA

83

069

HRA

Public Assistance
Support Grants (BFA)
Subsidized Employment
and Job-Related
Training (BFA)

84

069

HRA

Substance Abuse
Services (BFA)

Substance Abuse Services - OTPS U/A

85

069

HRA

Various - Budgeting of
Headcount

Budget Headcount within Accurate BFA
Program Area

Public Assistance and Employment Admin Create U/A Pair

Public Assistance Grants - OTPS U/APublic Assistance Support Grants - Create
U/A PairSubsidized Employment and Job-Related
Training - OTPS U/A

Description
The Information Technology Services BFA program area is split across a PS and OTPS U/A that are each shared withseveral other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Investigations and Revenue Administration program area is split across three U/As (two PS and one OTPS) thatare all shared with several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area toprovide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Legal Services BFA program area is split across two OTPS U/As, one of which is shared with several otherprograms. The Legal Services headcount is in U/A 207 which is not aligned with the Legal Services BFA program area
and is instead in the General Administration program area. The two Legal Services U/As should be fully aligned with
BFA program areas to provide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be
more accurately tracked.
Medicaid expenditures account for approximately 60 percent of HRA's budget, but this is not transparent because
it is lumped together with Homecare. Two new and separate BFA program areas, each with a fully aligned uniqueU/A pair, should be created for each Medicaid and Homecare.
The Medicaid and Homecare BFA program area is split across a PS and an OTPS U/A that are each shared with otherprograms. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide better transparency on eachprogram area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Medicaid and Eligibility Administration program area is split across one OTPS and three PS U/As that are all
shared with several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide
better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Office of Child Support Enforcement program area is split across two PS and three OTPS U/As some of which
are each shared with several other programs. Additionally, some of the funding in the Child Support Services U/As
is in the General Administration BFA program area. The U/As should be fully aligned with BFA program areas toprovide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately
tracked.
The Public Assistance and Employment Administration BFA program area is split across two PS and three OTPS U/As
that are all shared with several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area
to provide better transparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Public Assistance Grants BFA program area is in one OTPS U/A that is shared with several other programs. A
new U/A should be added that fully aligns with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Public Assistance Support Grants BFA program area is split across a PS and an OTPS U/A that are each sharedwith several other programs. New U/As should be added that fully align with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Subsidized Employment and Job-Related Training BFA program area is in one OTPS U/A that is shared withseveral other programs. A new U/A should be added that fully aligns with BFA program area to provide bettertransparency on each program area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
The Substance Abuse Services BFA program area is in one OTPS U/A that is shared with several other programs. A
new U/A should be added that fully aligns with BFA program area to provide better transparency on each program
area budget and so that spending can be more accurately tracked.
In several instances the headcount associated with a particular BFA program area is budgeted within a different
program area and is not transparent. Align all budgeted headcount with the correct BFA program and respective PS
U/A.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

Agency #AgencyCurrent Program Area
(BFA) or U/A

86

069

HRA

Various - Holding Codes

ProposalRemove holding codes from HRA's budget
and transfer funding to the appropriate
BFA program areas, U/As, and budget
codes

87

025

Law

U/A 002 - OTPS

Court-Ordered Monitors - Create a OTPS
U/A

88

025

Law

89

056

NYPD

90
91
92

056
056
056

NYPD
NYPD
NYPD

93

056

NYPD

94
95
96
97

056
056
056
056

NYPD
NYPD
NYPD
NYPD

U/A 001 and U/A 002 PS and OTPS
Chief of Department(BFA)
Detective Bureau Borough Squads (BFA)
Detective Bureau (BFA)Internal Affairs (BFA)
Security/Counter Terrorism Grants (BFA)
Special Operations(BFA)
Support Services (BFA)
Training (BFA)
Transportation (BFA)

98

906

OSNP

U/As 001 and 002 - PS
and OTPS

Tort Division - Create a U/A Pair

Description
The excessive use of holding codes limits transparency and makes it hard to track program budgets. As of thePreliminary Plan there is nearly $92 million budgeted in holding codes in Fiscal 2024, dropping to $60 million in Fiscal
2025, 57.7 million in Fiscal 2026, and $50.7 million in Fiscal 2027.
The Law Department's budget houses expenditures for court-ordered monitors and special masters. Presenting thebudget for these expenses in a distinct U/A would allow greater transparency into the costs of the City's noncompliance and lack of progress with remedial action.
The Law Department has 23 divisions but only 2 U/As (PS and OTPS). We request that the Tort Division, the Agency's
largest, be separated into a new a PS and OTPS U/A pair. The agency regularly transfers resources across divisions,many of which are very small, further inhibiting transparency.

Chief of Department - Create a U/A Pair
Detective Bureau - Borough Squads Create a U/A Pair
Detective Bureau - Create a U/A Pair
Internal Affairs - Create a U/A Pair
Security/Counter-Terrorism Grants - Create
OTPS U/A

Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.

Special Operations - Create a U/A Pair
Support Services - Create a U/A Pair
Training - Create a U/A Pair
Transportation - Create a U/A Pair
Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor Create U/A Pair for Executive andAdministrative

Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.

Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new U/A pair fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.
Create new OTPS U/A fully aligned to match the program area in the BFA.

Currently, each DA's budget has one U/A pair-PS & OTPS- there should an additional pair for executive andadministrative functions in each office's budget to better assess ongoing operating needs.

54

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTAppendix B – Proposed PMMR Indicators
General MMR Recommendations
Establish Clear Targets for all Performance Indicators. Several performance indicators within the
PMMR do not include targets and/or include targets that are below actual historical performance.
Performance indicators should include a specified target where applicable and should be updated
annually. Additionally, all targets should be evaluated and updated on an annual basis to betterreflect the specific agency’s work over the past few fiscal years.

Include an Indicator on the Implementation of the Citywide Savings Initiatives. Several Citywide
Savings Initiatives have been included in the Citywide Savings Program over the past few fiscal
years, which are designed to create lasting, programmatic savings across multiple agencies.
However, since they are not specifically tied to agency budgets, they are difficult to monitor. The
Council recommends including a new section and indicators in the MMR that tracks realizedsavings from the Citywide Savings Initiatives.

Explain Significant Indicator Variances. There are multiple instances in the PMMR where significant
variances in performance metrics were noted, but not thoroughly explained. The Council recommends
that all performance indicators that deviate from the norm have a proper explanation that highlights any
issues that were noted in that period.

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RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

Agency Specific Recommendations#

AgencyRecommended Indicator

1

NYCHA

2

NYCHA

Vacant Units
Permanent Affordability Commitment
Together (PACT) / Rental Assistance
Demonstration (RAD)3

DPR

Seasonal and Full Time Headcount

4

DSNY

Organics Diversion Breakdown

5

DSNY

Illegal Dumping Camera Tickets Given

6

DFTA

Culturally Competent Meals Served

7

DOHMH

New Cases of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

8

DOHMH

Insulin Accessibility

9

DOHMH

10

DOI

11
12

DOI
DOE

Emergency Room Admissions
Fingerprinting completed for Day Care
workers
Average Time Frame to Complete
Fingerprinting for Day Care Workers
Students with Disabilities

13

HRA

SNAP Benefits

14

DOE

Class Size Compliance

15

SCA

Accessibility

Description
The MMR should include (a) the number of vacant NYCHA units (broken out by category: vacant, non-dwelling, move-in/selected,
occupied) and (b) the average turnaround days to reoccupy vacant apartments. NYCHA has this data already. Additionally, theMMR should set performance targets for these indicators.
For NYCHA units that have converted to RAD/PACT: (a) Similar vacant unit tracker as above for public housing developments; (b)Track eviction cases filed and evictions executed.
There is no way to determine the amount of seasonal positions that are within DPR, there are only stats on FTEs which do not givea full picture. This indicator would allow the Council to better understand DPR staffing needs
Currently, DSNY only reports on total organics diverted. With the citywide curbside program beginning and Smart Bins being placedaround the City, breaking down the amount of organics diverted (curbside, smart bins) would be helpful to see where resources
should be allocated.
The MMR has a section for how many illegal dumping cameras have been deployed, but not indicators on how many tickets thesecameras are giving out.
The report should include the number of culturally competent meals served at Older Adult Centers (OACs) broken down by thetype (for example, halal and kosher meals). DFTA already tracks meals served at OAC's but not specific types of meals. The
immigrant older adult population is on the rise, and it is important to track the meals served that are aligned with their needs.
The PMMR should indicate the number of new Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes cases in the City. There are two indicators related todiabetes, with one for diabetes management among New Yorkers in DOHMH and one for the percent of patients diagnosed withdiabetes that have controlled blood sugars in H+H.
The PMMR should indicate the amount of New Yorkers that struggle to obtain insulin, whether it is related to accessibility, cost, orlack of insurance. DOHMH does not track the percent of diabetes patients that struggle to afford insulin.
The PMMR should indicate the amount of diabetes patients that are admitted to the emergency room as a result of organ failure.
DOHMH does not track the amount of people in the emergency room with organ failure due to diabetes.
The PMMR should indicate how many fingerprint checks have been completed by DOI for day care workers.
The PMMR should indicate how long it takes on average to complete fingerprinting for day care workers.
The PMMR should indicate how many students are on a waitlist to receive special education services.
The MMR does not include adequate information regarding SNAP. The indicators should be expanded to include information on
how quickly, on average, SNAP users exhaust their monthly benefits, as well as a breakdown of the number of recipients receiving
the minimum, maximum, or some other benefit level. Additional indicators should include the total number of SNAP applications
submitted, broken down by new applications and renewals, with an acceptance rate for each type and the top reasons for denial.
With the Class Size Law set to go into full effect in 2028 and scaling up each year, DOE should list out the percentage of classes ineach grade range identified in the law (K-5, 6-8, high school) that are in compliance, so the public can track against the thresholds
laid out in the class size law.
The PMMR/MMR should include both the number and SCA's target for Accessibility projects completed each year, similar to how
it lists the number of new schools constructed each year.

56

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

AgencyRecommended Indicator

16

DOE

Due Process Cases

17

DOE

Pre-K and 3-K enrollment

18

HRA

Medicaid Recipients

19

NYPD

Quality of Life Summonses

20

NYPD

Juvenile arrest for major felonies

21

HPD/OMB

22

HPD

Housing production pipeline

23

DOB

Stop work orders

24

DOB

Failure to gain access for inspection

25

DOP

26

DOC

Juvenile JusticeParticipation in programs, services, andactivities:

27

DOC

Early Release

28

DOC

Missed Medical Appointments

29

DOC

Recidivism data

30

HRA

Immigration Legal Services through ActionNYC

31

DOE

Student Suspensions

32

DOE

L.V. v. DOE

33

HPD

Average Time from TCO to Occupancy

34

HPD

Homeownership

Housing production project review at OMB

Description
The PMMR/MMR should list the number of due process cases special education cases DOE has each year, how many are on
waitlist to be heard by an Impartial Hearing Officer.
The PMMR/MMR currently has extensive enrollment and utilization metrics for Head Start, but none for 3-K or Pre-K. DOE should
include the same metrics for 3-K and Pre-K that it does for Head Start
An indicator should be added in the MMR to provide a count of HRA-administered Medicaid recipients who are non-Modified
Gross Adjusted Income qualified (MAGI), MAGI renewals, and any other categories.
The PMMR should include a breakdown of the top five quality of life summonses. Currently only noise summonses are broken
out from the overall total.
The PMMR should include disaggregated data for the top five felonies.
The MMR should include the average length of time an (a) preservation and (b) new construction project financed by HPD is held
for review at OMB.
The MMR should include the length of HPD's (a) preservation and (b) new construction project pipeline, as measured in averagetime from proposal to closing.
The MMR should include indicators showing the total number of stop work orders issued, the number of sites which resumed
work following a stop work order, and the number of sites which have received (a) 1-4 (b) 5-9 or (c) 10 or more violations overthe length of the project.
Total DOB inspection complaints where access was obtained (%), violations were written (%), and penalties were assessed (total$).
The PMMR should include the number of cases referred to the Law Department for Prosecution and the number of cases referred
for adjustment (instead of only including the percent eligible for adjustment).
The PMMR should reinstate goal 2B which was removed in 2023. It should include all 8 indicators previously tracked on the
average daily number of individuals in custody participating in various programs.
The PMMR should include the number of individuals identified and released through the Local Conditional Release Commission,
6-A Early Release, and Population Review Teams.
The PMMR should include a breakdown as to how many people in DOC custody requested a medical appointment so that thedata can be compared to the Individual in custody health clinic visits data.
The PMMR should include data with regards to how many people are currently in custody with a previous history in the justicesystem.
Indicators should be added to the MMR to provide information an evaluation on immigration legal services, including the numberof clients served, the timeline to complete an immigration case, the number of asylum seekers cases compared to otherimmigration related cases, etc.
The PMMR should include data on suspensions by grade-level, gender, in-school or out-of-school suspensions, length ofsuspensions, and whether students are also identified as English New Language Learners, Students with Disabilities, Students in
Temporary Housing or General Education students and lastly by race. (The Council is aware students would fall into more than
one identifier).
The PMMR should include data on progress DOE will be making towards having expedited Impartial Hearing cases heard as per
the $32 million added each year in the Preliminary Budget plan to address these outstanding cases. DOE should share how manycases are outstanding, how are being heard and resolved each fiscal year as well as the costs each year.
The MMR should add an indicator showing how long, on average, it takes to place a tenant in a lottery unit, broken out by AMI
affordability band, after the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) has been granted.
The MMR should break out HPD's performance on the following homeownership initiatives which are currently not regularly
reported: HomeFix repair program (repairs completed and average loan size), HomeFirst loan program (loans granted and averagesize), Neighborhood Pillars (term sheet applications, funding, starts, completions), and Open Door (term sheet applications,funding, starts, completions), and Homeownership Help Desk (people served).

57

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

AgencyRecommended Indicator

35

DOB/MOCJ/FDNY/DOF

36

OSE

37

FDNY/H+H

38

H+H

39

H+H/FDNY

Wait Times in the Emergency Room

40

H+H

NYC Care Immigrant Participants

41

DHS

Shelter Cost by Type of Shelter

42

DHS

Street Homeless Shelter and Services

43

HRA

Community Food Connection (CFC)

44

HRA

Domestic Violence Shelter

45

Law

Agency-by-Agency Judgement and Claims
Payouts

46

HRA

CityFHEPS Vouchers

Office of Special Enforcement (OSE)Transparency

Short Term Rentals
End-to-End Response Time for Ambulances
including wait times in the Emergency Room
Wait Times at Hospitals

Description
OSE maintains citywide jurisdiction to coordinate and enhance enforcement across City agencies concerning fire and buildingcode violations. The MMR should report additional performance data about the unit, such as the number of inspections
performed annually, the number of violations issued and the amount of fines collected.
The MMR should report data on Local Law 18 of 2022, which regulates the registration and verification of short-term rentals, byindicating the number of homeowners who have registered with OSE, how many applications were rejected and approved, andthe total amount in fines that was assessed on non-compliant homeowners.
The PMMR should include the average wait time for patients to be seen by a doctor in a H+H hospital, from the initial responseby Ambulances to meeting the doctor.
The PMMR should include the average wait time for patients to be seen by a doctor in an H+H hospital, from initial check-in to
the point that they meet the doctor.
The PMMR should include the average wait time for patients to be seen by a doctor in the emergency room in H+H hospitals,
from initial check-in to the point that they meet the doctor.
The PMMR should include a breakdown of total participants by the number of immigrants and/asylum seekers who participatedin the program. The FY24 PMMR stated that some asylum seekers qualified, which proved that H+H has the capacity to track
participants immigration status.
An indicator should be added to the MMR on the cost of shelter by facility type. Currently, it only reports the average cost of
shelter per day by household type. Given the varying cost of shelter facilities, additional indicators should be added in the MMR.
Indicators should be added to the MMR listing each operational Drop-In Center with its borough of location, the total number of
unduplicated clients served, and the average number of all clients served. Additionally, indicators should be added listing the total
capacity of Safe Haven beds, the total capacity of Stabilization Beds, and the vacancy rates and average lengths of stay for each.
The PMMR does not include adequate information regarding CFC. New indicators should be added and include information on
the number of CFC applications received, the number of CFC providers that have closed, the number of CFC deliveries made tocommunity-based providers each month, and the number of clients served by CFC providers.
Indicators should be added to the MMR to show the vacancy rates and average length of stay for each type of domestic violence
shelter (emergency and Tier II Units).
Judgement and Claims payouts over the past few fiscal years have ranged from $623 million to -$795 million. The PMMR currently
includes the total amount of Judgement and Claims payouts made by fiscal year but does not provide information on an agencyby-agency payout basis. The Council recommends that the Administration include a new performance indicator that highlights
Judgement and Claims payouts for the top 10 agencies, along with explanations provided for large deviations from the norm.
The PMMR should include metrics on HRA's CityFHEPS rental assistance voucher program. The metrics should include the numberof unduplicated households and unduplicated people enrolled and utilizing CityFHEPS vouchers; the average monthly subsidy andclient contribution amount of active vouchers, broken out by apartment size; the average length of time current voucher clients
have been enrolled in CityFHEPS; the percentage of active voucher holders who were able to exit shelter versus remain in theirhome with their voucher; the number of new applications received, broken down by apartment size; the average processing timeof new applications; the rate of approval of new applications; the average time between application approval and a move-in topermanent housing with the voucher; the number of new applications from a HomeBase referral; the number of people disenrolled, broken down by reason; and the number of voucher holders who have returned to shelter.

58

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT#

AgencyRecommended Indicator

47

Various

Asylum Seeker Response

48
49

DCWP
DCWP

Proactive Tobacco Summons
Returning Clients

50
51

DCWP
EDC

Defining SuccessAverage NYCIDA Contract Closed

52
53

EDC
EDC

Projected Net City Revenues by IDA contracts
Ferry Ridership by Age

54

EDC

Ferry Time

Description
The PMMR should include a section with information covering all agencies involved in the City's asylum seeker response efforts
and where any funding has been budgeted or spent. The information should include: (i) budgeted and actual expenditures related
to the asylum seeker response broken down by agency and expense type (including, but not limited to, food, rent, social services,
security services, funding allocated to agency staff and staff overtime); (ii) for each agency providing temporary housing to asylum
seekers, the per diem rate for each household type and a list of the expenses included in the per diem; (iii) for each agency
providing temporary housing to asylum seekers, a breakdown of the number of households and individuals served, by population
type (single adults, adult families, families with children); (iv) for each agency providing temporary housing to asylum seekers, thenumber of sites operating broken out by population type served (single adults, adult families, families with children) and facility
type (including but not limited to, hotels, shelters, respite centers, humanitarian emergency response and relief centers); (v) for
each agency providing temporary housing to asylum seekers, the number of households and clients who exited their care in thepast month, by population type (single adults, adult families, families with children); and (vi) for each agency providing contracted
services, a list of contracts with provider names, service type, contract identification numbers, contract amounts, and the termof each contract.
Goal 1b: The PMMR refers to tobacco program inspection summons, while also having a section for general proactive inspection
summonses. However, the proactive is not specific to the tobacco program it lumps all of the inspections in one. The PMMR
should have sites inspected - total by the tobacco program, as they do, and the PMMR should have a Proactive Inspection
Summonses for the Tobacco Program.
Goal 3a: The PMMR should have a section of clients that are served by the OFE that are returning clients.
Goal 3a: The PMMR has trackers referring to OFE clients achieving short- and long-term success. There should be a definition ofwhat success is, and how long of a time frame long and short is.
Goal 1a: The PMMR should have a metric for the contract closed on the average cost of the contract.
Goal 1a: The PMMR has projected net city tax revenues generated by IDA contracts. But it does not specify if it is by year, or overthe course of the entire contract. There should be an indicator for year by year and overall revenues generated.
Goal 4a: The PMMR has total ridership but included should be a metric by age.
Goal 4a: The PMMR includes an on-time performance metric that was not reported in FY23 or FY24, an additional metric should
include the total time delayed. If the delay is greater than 10-15 minutes it should have its own metric.

59

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORTIndex
DYCD Adult Literacy ......................................................... 45

1E

15/15 Supportive Housing ...............................................27

Early Childhood Education Full Day / Full Year Seat
Expansion ................................................................... 16
Early Childhood Education Funding Restoration ............ 16
Early Childhood Education Marketing and Outreach ..... 16
Emergency Medical Services Wage Parity ...................... 45
Equal Employment Practices Commission Fully Fund
Staffing Level .............................................................. 34

B
Bellevue Ambulance Bay Reconstruction ........................31
Board of Correction Restoration and Baseline ................33

C
Cafeteria Enhancements ..................................................22
Cancer Screening Day .......................................................31
Capital...............................................................................49
Certified Arts Teacher in Every School.............................19
City Clerk Restoration and Project Cupid ........................48
Civilian Complaint Review Boards’ Headcount Increase to
Ensure Police Oversight ..............................................33
Community Composting Restoration ..............................37
Community Development Financial Institutions .............47
Community Food Connection Program ...........................42
Community Interpreter Bank and Language Services
Restoration .................................................................46
Community Justice Centers in Staten Island and the Bronx.....................................................................................29
Community Schools..........................................................17
Community-Based Solutions for Violence Interruption ..29
Contract Budget ...............................................................50
Cultural Institutions Funding Restoration .......................36
CUNY Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) ..............23
CUNY ASAP for All ............................................................23
CUNY Capital Support ......................................................24
CUNY Computing Across the Curriculum Micro-Credential.....................................................................................23
CUNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) ..24
CUNY Cultural Corps.........................................................24
CUNY Funding Restoration...............................................22
CUNY Reconnect...............................................................22
CUNY Social Work Fellows ...............................................23

F
Failure to Provide Building Inspector Access Penalty ..... 34
Fair Fares Eligibility Expansion to 200 Percent of theFederal Poverty Level ................................................. 43
Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) Teams
Funding ....................................................................... 27

G
Get Sheds Down Penalties............................................... 35
Glucometer Citywide Pilot .............................................. 32
Guaranteed Income Pilot Program ................................. 43

H
HealthyNYC Learning Collaboratives ............................... 31
Home Care and Case Management Older Adult Programs.................................................................................... 42
Home-Delivered Meals for Older Adults Reimbursement
Rate Increase .............................................................. 41
Housing Stability Microgrants to Domestic Violence
Impacted Individuals .................................................. 28
Hunts Point Produce Market ........................................... 38I
IDNYC Funding Restoration to Re-Open Centers, Resume
Walk-In Appointments, and Improve Processing Times.................................................................................... 43
Illegal Dumping Cameras Expansion Citywide ................ 47
Immigrant Family Engagement ....................................... 21
Immigration Legal Services Enhancement ...................... 47
Increase Investments in Affordable Housing andHomeownership Opportunities ................................. 11
Industrial Business Service Provider Support ................. 46
Invest in Fundamental Maintenance and Repairs at
NYCHA......................................................................... 13

D
Decarbonization Funding Restoration and Expansion ....48
Department of Building Inspector Position Restoration .34
Department of City Planning PEG Reversal and Capital
Funding to Enable Neighborhood Rezonings .............13
Department of Investigation Headcount Support toEnhance Oversight ......................................................34
Department of Youth and Community Development(DYCD) Budget Cut Restoration ..................................40
District 75 Restoration .....................................................20
District Attorneys and Special Narcotics Prosecutor
Operational Support ...................................................30

J
Justice Involved Supportive Housing (JISH) .................... 28

60

RESPONSE TO THE FISCAL 2025 PRELIMINARY BUDGET AND FISCAL 2024 PRELIMINARY MAYOR’S MANAGEMENT REPORT

LR

Language Access Services for City Agencies ....................46
Learning to Work..............................................................21
Library Funding Restoration ............................................37
Literacy Instruction and Dyslexia Programming ..............21
Lithium-Ion Battery Education, Outreach, and Swap ......35
Litter Basket Service Restoration.....................................37

Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Pilot Program 45
Restorative Justice Restoration ....................................... 19
Runaway and Homeless Youth Beds ............................... 41
Runaway and Homeless Youth Funding Restoration Housing Navigators .................................................... 40
Runaway and Homeless Youth Peer Navigators ............. 40
Runaway and Homeless Youth Residential Contracts .... 41

MS

Making Schools Accessible ...............................................22
Maternal and Child Health Services.................................30
Maternal Health Psychologist in Each H+H Maternal
Health Department .....................................................30
Mayor’s Management Report..........................................50
Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Restoration .42
Mental Health Clubhouses ...............................................27
Mental Health Continuum and School-Based Care .........19
Mental Health Courts and Diversion Programs for District
Attorneys ....................................................................30

School Based Nurses ........................................................ 20
School Based Social Workers, School Psychologists andFamily Workers........................................................... 19
School Food Restoration ................................................. 17
Second Shift Positions at the Department of Parks andRecreation Restoration .............................................. 37
Shelter Provider Funding Restoration ............................. 40
Shelter-Based Community Coordinators ........................ 20
Student Success Centers .................................................. 21N

T

New York City Commission on Human Rights Budget
Restoration .................................................................33
New York City Small Business Resource Network ...........46
Noise Camera Program ....................................................47
Nurse Family Partnership.................................................31

Tax Expenditures ............................................................. 51
Title VI Coordinators at DOE and CUNY .......................... 24
Translation Services and Bilingual Staff .......................... 21
Trauma Hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula ................. 31
Trauma Recovery Center Expansion ............................... 27

O

U

Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes Funding ..........30
Office of Criminal Justice Recidivism Reduction Programs
Restoration .................................................................28
Older Adult Center PEG Restoration ................................41
Older Adult Centers Capital Funding Enhancement ........42
Outward Bound Crew Model ...........................................22

Units of Appropriation .................................................... 49
Urban Park Rangers, Tree Stump Removal, and Green
Thumb Program Restoration...................................... 37

V
Veterans Resource Centers in All 51 Council Districts .... 44
Vision Zero Education and Outreach Funding Restoration.................................................................................... 47

P
Parks Department Headcount PEG Restoration ..............37
Pathway for CUNY Students to City Careers and City Jobs.....................................................................................45
Pre-School Special Education ...........................................17
Promise NYC Program Expansion ....................................17
Property Tax System Reform ...........................................14
Provide a Property Tax Rebate for Homeowners in Need.....................................................................................13
Pump Trucks for Flooded Areas .......................................48

W
Women’s Concussion Clinic ............................................. 28

YYouth Intervention and Safety Programs Restoration ... 29
Youth Peer Support Program .......................................... 1961