De Blasio unveils $92.5 billion executive budget
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday unveiled the executive budget for fiscal 2020. The spending plan totals $92.5 billion, up from $89 billion the prior fiscal year despite the mayor's concerns that the economy is slowing down.
"It's not like we've turned some great corner," he said. "We anticipate for the foreseeable future only modest revenue growth—a lot of uncertainty out there."
Among the big costs are $33 million for special education, $88 million for charter school costs, and $96 million to pay for the state's new voting reforms.
The mayor said he supports the voting reforms but believes that the state should pay for them since state lawmakers enacted the law.
This is the first year that de Blasio required mandatory cuts to every single agency.
The Department of Education took the biggest hit: $104 million was cut. Some of the cuts are to the city's controversial Rise School and Renewal School programs.
Another controversial program, Thrive—the first lady's mental health initiative, will only see $9 million cut from its $250 million annual budget.
Among new investments, one of the largest is $60 million to retrofit city buildings to be energy efficient as part of the city's newly announced Green New Deal.
Other investments include $22 million for census efforts and $15 million for a new initiative to reduce EMS response time in the Bronx, and $6 million for NYCHA emergency repairs.