The City’s Budget is Due at the end of June. Negotiations about what gets cut, including funding for libraries are happening now

By: Katie Honan

At more than $100 billion, New York City’s annual budget is the largest of any municipality in the country — and the expression of how a city still emerging from a pandemic and grappling with an influx of asylum-seekers will set spending priorities.

But the path to a budget deal — the moment when Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams soak up applause in the City Hall rotunda — can be complex and contentious.

The City Council and the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) currently are negotiating the city’s spending plan, estimated to be around $107 billion for fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1.

“You have to start with shared priorities, start with programs and initiatives that both the administration and the Council care about, and you try to find as much synergy there as you can,” Justin Brannan, a Brooklyn Democrat who chairs the Council’s Committee on Finance, told THE CITY.

“And then you have to fight over the rest.”

That battle extends to the agencies, organizations and institutions fearing funding cuts, like the city’s three public library systems, which stand to receive $36.2 million less than in the current budget. The reduction would likely close branches on Sunday and cut Saturday library hours, according to a spokesperson for the New York Public Library.

The mayor and the Council also have publicly sparred over the city’s finances, in marked contrast to last year, when the two sides agreed to a deal June 10, weeks before the deadline.

But some Council members were surprised by the deal last year after realizing there were significant education cuts.

Here, THE CITY explains how the budget is hammered out, how the money is distributed and what can happen if it’s late.

How much is the city’s budget?

The mayor and the speaker agreed to a $101 billion budget in June 2022. Since then, it has grown. The mayor’s proposed executive budget, released in April, topped $107 billion.

The city’s operating budget pays for nearly everything — from staffing to salaries to office supplies — and is funded mainly through taxes and other revenue. There is also a revenue budget, which reflects how much the city is taking in through taxes, licenses, and permits, as well as money from the state and federal government.

Each member of City Council is given discretionary funds from the operating budget that they can dole out as they see fit. Often, they give much of that money to local nonprofit organizations.

Separate from the operating budget, the city also must hammer out a capital budget, which pays for long-term and large construction projects, like building new schools or doing a major renovation on a park.

What is the timeline for the budget?

The new budget is due June 30. But there are other important dates throughout the year.

“The city budget is essentially a year-round process,” said Mark Shaw, who served as first deputy mayor under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as a budget director and finance commissioner for other mayors and for the City Council.

The mayor releases City Hall’s preliminary budget by mid-January, which gives the Council the opportunity to scope out its own priorities and potential cuts. The Council then holds hearings and releases a response to the mayor’s proposal.

(TheCity.nyc)