Our city’s budget reflects our values, and for my administration, the needs of ordinary people come first. This year, we faced many significant financial challenges, and we have reached a budget agreement with our colleagues on City Council: a budget that is smart, strategic, and fiscally responsible, a budget that advances our administration’s Working People Agenda and puts the needs of working New Yorkers to the fore.
The approved FY 2024 budget is approximately $107 billion and allows us to spend on services and programs that benefit all New Yorkers, while continuing to address the costs created by the asylum seeker crisis and adding $4.7 billion in budget savings that has achieved administration during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, since the last adoption.
While we can’t predict with certainty what challenges tomorrow will bring, our near-record reserves of $8 billion in fiscal year 2024 will help us ensure that New York City remains strong, no matter what challenges we face.
Yet even as we prepare for the future, we want New Yorkers to have the resources they need to thrive today. That’s why this budget protects and builds on our historic investments: in summer jobs for youth and career paths for students, in public safety and trash pickup, in connecting New Yorkers in need with mental health services or housing stable, and in keeping with the commitment we made last year to fund affordable housing and NYCHA at historic levels.
Through careful budgeting and in partnership with the City Council, we have been able to restore a total of $36 million in funding to our city’s libraries.
When New Yorkers talk, we listen. Parents told us they need preschool hours that better coincide with their workdays, so we’re adding $15 million in funding to convert nearly 1,900 early childhood education seats to extended day starting this fall.
Working New Yorkers have told us that getting to work eats up a large portion of their paychecks, so we’re expanding our Fair Fares Program. This program offers reduced-price public transportation fares for those who are eligible, leaving working New Yorkers with more money in their pockets to spend on other necessities.
We also know that public education is vital to all New Yorkers, which is why we invest in our public schools and won’t let enrollment declines negatively impact initial school funding levels.
And we’re helping our students get on the path to high-paying jobs and careers through college and internship programs like College Now, CUNY Explorers, and Career Launch. We are ensuring that our young people can continue their education and achieve their dreams.
As you know, I am deeply committed to improving public safety and ending gun violence, which destroys lives and communities. This budget provides resources for violence interrupters and other services that help do this important work for our city.
We’re also increasing resources for supervised release and support services for justice-involved New Yorkers.
When it comes to homelessness and mental health issues, we’ve already made strides in helping people turn their lives around. This budget ensures that we can continue to help New Yorkers in crisis and get them off the streets and into long-term care.
We’re providing pay raises for hundreds of thousands of city employees, putting more money in the pockets of working families across the city. We’re also raising the wages of those who keep our social services running, like our nonprofit contractors, child care centers and homeless providers, and those who care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers.
We are making sure that we can continue food delivery programs for older New Yorkers, as well as meals at Senior Centers.
And because New Yorkers deserve clean streets, we’re adding funds to clean up commercial corridors and highways in all five boroughs.
With the arrival of the hot summer days, we want all our children to have access to the pools and learn to swim. We want to make sure that all of our children are safe this summer and are not at risk of drowning because they do not have access to the neighborhood pool for lessons.
Public safety is the prerequisite for prosperity, and that means we must protect our children while ensuring fairness. So we’re adding funds to increase access to pools in all five boroughs and provide swim lessons to more kids than ever before.
This budget balances the long-term needs of our city and the daily needs of our people. Not all of our investments are large, but they are strategic, fiscally responsible, and put New Yorkers first.
I want to thank City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Finance Chairman Justin Brannan, and Budget Director Jacques Jiha and their team for their hard work in making this budget a reality. Above all, I want to thank you, my fellow New Yorkers, for all you do to make New York the best city in the world.
Eric Adams is the mayor of New York City