By Kelsey Durham
The City Council last week announced an agreement with Mayor Bill de Blasio on an $75 billion budget for the 2015 fiscal year 11 days before the deadline that includes several funding increases in areas such as education, the arts and public safety.
De Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) reached an agreement June 19 on a fiscal plan that the mayor said he was “very proud” of and said signals a new direction for the 8.4 million people of New York City. The budget ups spending by about 7 percent from last year but was finalized with no major cuts and no major tax increases.
Many city officials praised this year’s budget process as being much more straightfoward than past years since the recently passed Council reform agenda brought an end to the politics that often put key sectors such firefighters, police and libraries on the chopping block.
One of the most significant additions to the budget is the allocation of $6.25 million that will provide free lunch to all public middle school students beginning this fall. The initiative was applauded by public advocate Letitia James, who said after the agreement was announced that she was glad to see the city take the first step toward universal free lunch for all public school students.
“In February, I supported a campaign to bring universal school lunch to New York City because I know that students who aren’t battling hunger are more attentive and perform better in their classes,” James said. “I am pleased that come September hundreds of thousands of New York City middle-school children will now be able to enjoy a nutritious, free lunch during the school day.”
In recent weeks, Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Bayside) had been fighting for the restoration of the Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarship, a merit-based program that was founded in 1998 in honor of his father and was cut by then-Council Speaker Christine Quinn in 2011 as retribution when former Astoria Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. expressed opposition to the renaming of the Ed Koch Bridge.
The agreed-upon budget includes $11.1 million for the creation of a similar scholarship, now being called the City Council Merit Based Scholarship Program, that will provide funding for city high school graduates who maintain a B-average or higher while attending a CUNY school, the same rules the Vallone Scholarship outlined for many years.
Vallone, who has fought since taking office in January to secure equal funding for northeast Queens for the first time in many years, praised the negotiation process and said it would bring major improvements to districts such as his that fell short with funding in the past.
“This budget not only embraces my district, but it prioritizes over $6 million of capital and discretionary funding that will have an immediate impact for everyone in my district,” he said. “This long overdue and historic budget for our community will allow us to finally become an equal partner with the city and bring real change and improvements to our schools, libraries, parks and our neighborhoods.”
After months of discussion about how to reform the Queens Library, the budget will now deliver more than $175 million for the restoration of library and arts programs, including a 40 percent increase in capital funding that will pay for the Cultural After School Adventure Program to bring the arts into classrooms.
“Last night’s budget victory represents a victory for the people of the city of New York,” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), who led the fight for arts funding, said in a statement after the budget was agreed upon. “While we still need to make more progress, funding for our libraries will be increased for the first time in six years.”
The budget also includes enough funding for every child in the city to attend full-day pre-K, de Blasio said.
“I’ve talked for a long time about the ‘Tale of Two Cities,’” the mayor said at a conference after the agreement was reached. “I’ve talked for a long time about the inequality crisis and the affordability crisis. The Council believes, exactly as we did, that we had to address them.”
Safety was addressed by the Council’s decision to set aside more than $6 million to hire 200 police administrative aides who will help reduce street crime and gun violence, especially in public housing, according to a release from the Council.
The Council was expected to vote on whether to officially adopt the budget later this week.
Reach reporter Kelsey Durham at 718-260-4573 or kdurham@cnglocal.com.
