Public Employee Press

Proposed city budget preserves services, jobs
Governor's plan shortchanges pre-K

Mayor Bill de Blasio presented his preliminary budget for the 2015 fiscal year Feb. 12, a $74 billion fiscal plan that includes no layoffs and no cuts in vital services, signaling a dramatic shift from the mayoral priorities of the last two decades.

While the former mayor left 300,000 municipal employees without pay increases for four years or more, de Blasio says he is open to retroactive raises; however, his proposed budget does not set aside additional funds for collective bargaining. "That's what the negotiation process is for," he said.

The proposed budget would restore reserve funds that the previous administration had reduced and depleted, prudently building the reserves to levels greater than deficits expected in coming years.

The new mayor will present his more detailed executive budget in early May and must negotiate a final budget with the City Council before the fiscal year begins on July 1.

De Blasio's first budget would restore funds for DC 37 jobs at three immunization clinics that were cut by the previous administration. The Fort Greene, Corona and Tremont clinics vaccinated 29,000 people in 2012, including 10,000 children. Without the required shots, children cannot attend New York City public schools.

The proposed spending plan would redirect significant resources to the New York City Housing Authority, where many DC 37 members live and work, by ending NYCHA's payments for Police Dept. services. The change would save $53 million, which would go for long-overdue repairs.

In Albany, Gov. Andrew Cuomo submitted his state executive budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year on Jan. 21. The plan would increase education aid by 4 percent, but how much would come to New York City is unknown. The budget also appropriates $720 million over a five-year period to expand after-school programs.

The governor says state funding will be available to any school district to launch universal pre-kindergarten, but his budget would provide only $1.5 billion over five years, a sum the state education commissioner has called inadequate.

De Blasio has asked the state Legislature for a small tax surcharge on the wealthiest New Yorkers to provide revenue dedicated to the pre-K program as a long-term way to reduce economic inequality.

— Alfredo Alvarado