De Blasio Presents $92.28B Budget For 2022

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio presented a proposed $92.28 billion budget for 2022 that he said will avert drastic cuts amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

De Blasio on Thursday said the preliminary budget still requires sacrifices and belt-tightening to close a $5.25 billion gap caused by COVID-19 costs and falling property tax revenue.

But he said a combination of new savings and promised help from Washington will put the city past the pandemic.

“This budget will start us on the path to recovery,” he said.

The coronavirus crisis erased New York City's strong fiscal standing, de Blasio said. Property tax revenue fell $2.5 billion and the city had to spend nearly $6 billion against COVID-19, he said.

De Blasio previously warned the crunch could require as many as 9,000 layoffs of city employees.

But all talk of drastic cuts disappeared by the time de Blasio unveiled the budget in a late afternoon presentation.

He said a combined $3.6 billion in savings and a new "three out, one in" attrition and hiring policy, as well as other measures, helped avert the layoffs.

Other potential cuts were averted by news de Blasio received from Sen. Chuck Schumer, the incoming majority leader, an hour before the presentation.

The federal government will totally reimburse for certain FEMA expenses, he said.

"Throughout this whole painful crisis, the City of New York has had to cover 25 percent of all FEMA-eligible expenses," he said. "FEMA eventually provided the other 75 percent. Now, FEMA is going to cover the full 100 percent."

Schumer's news will also allow the city to protect one- to three-family homes of $500,000 and less from an effective property tax hike from increases in assessed value, de Blasio said.

"We are not going to raise property tax rates. Period,” he said.

The city also will overhaul its tax lien sale program to protect homeowners, he said.