Deal Struck On $98.7B NYC 'Recovery Budget'

NEW YORK CITY — A deal struck over New York City's 2022 budget carries a $98.7 billion price tag that officials say will help the city recover from the coronavirus crisis and address long-standing disparities.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson sealed the deal Wednesday with an all-smiles handshake in City Hall's rotunda — a sight that hearkened to pre-pandemic scenes and underscored a "recovery budget" theme.

The budget is the largest in city history, thanks to billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds. De Blasio said massive spending is necessary to help pull the city not just beyond the pandemic, but also an unequal pre-crisis status quo.

“People do not just want to go back to January 2020, we want to do something different and better as we bring this city forward,” he said.

City Council members are expected to vote on the budget later Wednesday.

Many details and dollar figures in the budget remained unclear as of Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson, for instance, said the budget increases "fair student funding" to historic levels, but didn't provide an amount.

"For the first time ever, every school will receive 100 percent of their fair student funding money," he said. "It's a big deal, it's a really big deal which means money is going to directly to classrooms that need it the most. We are also going to make sure that every school have a social worker, which is a huge deal as well."

Despite lack of immediate detail, it appeared education programs formed a major backbone of a budget de Blasio billed as a "radical investment in working families."

The budget will include $15 million for a "baby bonds" program giving all kindergartners a $100 college savings account and $4 million for four-year CUNY scholarships, according to the mayor's office.

The deal includes a $1 billion, decade-long commitment to support LifeSci NYC to help create an estimated 40,000 life sciences jobs, according to the mayor's office.

The deal also appears to boost NYPD funding — a major issue during last year's budget process. De Blasio said NYPD funding will go up by $200 million for overtime and IT.

He said the budget also will invest in community-based public safety programs, such as Cure Violence, which will receive $44 million.

"Recovery equals public safety, public safety equals recovery,” he said.

Johnson said the budget also reverses cuts to city parks, cultural institutions and sanitation that were made in last year's budget.

"Last year was a very different budget, we had to make terribly difficult decisions,” he said.

The budget also socks away $500 million in the city's rainy day fund, bringing it up to $1 billion, Johnson said.

But the lovey-dovey attitude toward the budget at de Blasio's and Johnson's news conference wasn't shared by at least one prominent City Council member.

Brad Lander, who is locked in a close race for city comptroller against Johnson, declared he'd be a "no" vote on the budget.

He criticized it for increasing NYPD funding and personnel rather than using those funds for mental health care, supportive housing, cure violence programs, school guidance counselors, and youth jobs.

He also blasted what he called a lack of transparency on budget details for the public and even City Council members.

"This is the least transparent budget agreement in my 12 years as a Council Member," he said.

My statement on my no vote today on the FY22 Expense Budget: pic.twitter.com/sf9rZ9Tyje
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) June 30, 2021