The New York City Council on Tuesday approved the city’s $85.2 billion fiscal 2018 budget.
The vote at City Hall confirmed the accord reached last Friday between Mayor Bill De Blasio and the City Council, the earliest agreement on a budget since 1992.
By law, the Council must approve a final budget by June 30.
“The FY 2018 budget stands to enhance resources to our most essential community programs and uplift New Yorkers across each of the five boroughs,” Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said.
The afternoon vote by the full Council came after the Finance Committee approved it earlier in the day.
“As the speaker and I deliver our last budget, we can look back on the Council’s budgetary accomplishments and say with confidence that we have not only improved the budget process for future legislators but leveled the playing field for hundreds of thousands of families in New York City,” said Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras-Copeland.
Ferreras-Copeland announced on Friday that she would not seek re-election to represent her Queens district on the Council; Mark-Viverito cannot run again due to term limits.
The fiscal 2018 balanced budget accounts for $1.2 billion in the general reserve, $4.2 billion in retiree health benefits trust fund and $250 million in the capital stabilization reserve.
The budget also sees $100 million in savings from a partial hiring freeze, as well as debt-service savings. In fiscal 2017, the city paid almost $6 billion in debt service, or about 7% of its overall budget.
