March 10, 2016. In his briefing of NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio’s FY 2017 Preliminary budget, FPI’s James Parrott highlights the following:
- Strong economic and tax growth used to further a different set of budget and policy priorities than predecessors: reinvesting in human services; committing new resources to address housing and homelessness; continuing and different investments in public safety; and changing employment and wage policies to aid workers.
- Cautious budgeting in the face of economic uncertainty: Outyear gaps have been reduced; City has a significant budget reserve cushion; new focus on budget savings and greater efficiencies promised in Executive Budget.
- Budget and tax cap proposals from Albany pose new risks for NYC: These risks have risen to a new level that departs from a 40-year history of City-State financial partnership.
- Still to be addressed: The City hasn’t yet focused on reforming local taxes to make them less regressive, especially residential property taxes.