The New York City Council Tuesday approved a final $82.1 billion fiscal 2017 budget to which council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Mayor Bill de Blasio had agreed a week earlier.
"This is a smart, responsible, fiscally prudent – not to mention early – budget," Mark-Viverito said in afternoon floor debate before the vote, viewed as a formality in the wake of last week's agreement. "This is a budget for everyone."
The approval at the council's afternoon regular meeting marked the earliest that the two branches of city government had agreed on a fiscal plan in 15 years. The council's finance committee approved the plan in a morning session.
By law, the 51-member council must approve a balanced budget by June 30.
The final plan is fractionally smaller than the preliminary budget de Blasio submitted in January.
"We've allocated money to address our city's most pressing needs and thanks to our strong citywide savings program – the largest in five years – the adopted budget is less than our executive budget," de Blasio said in a statement.
City spending will increase by roughly 4.6% over last year's approved $78.5 billion level. It includes $180 million for New York City Health + Hospitals, a money-bleeding agency that de Blasio is attempting to reorganize.
Health committee chairman Corey Johnson, while voting for the budget, questioned whether de Blasio's overhaul can plug a projected $1.9 billion gap for H+H by 2020. "We need to get this under control in a meaningful way," he said.
The spending plan includes an additional $250 million in the retiree health benefits trust fund that will raise it to $3.9 billion, as well as $1 billion for the general reserve and $500 million for the capital stabilization reserve. In addition, the budget includes about $440 million more in savings.
It also increases spending in cultural institutions across the five boroughs and expands summer and year-round youth employment programs.
Moody's Investors Service rates the city's general obligation bonds Aa2. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings assign AA ratings.
