De Blasio describes state budget as win for NYC

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised several elements of the state budget, a spending package approved this week in which he beat back all but one proposal that will wind up costing the city $200 million.

De Blasio said his overarching goal of reducing income inequality and lifting New Yorkers out of poverty would be greatly aided by the two policies tucked in the budget: raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of 2018 in the city and offering 12 weeks of paid time off to those caring for a relative or when a family member is sent to active duty military service. The mayor also praised the state spending plan for increasing public school funding and financing his universal pre-kindergarten program.

“New York City had a tremendous amount at stake in this State budget, from dangerous cuts that would have imperiled key City services, to real opportunities to fight inequality and lift up working people,” the mayor said in a statement. “The end results are ones New Yorkers can be proud of.”

Initially, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed saddling the city with nearly $1 billion more in fiscal obligations, including having the city contribute $485 million more to CUNY, shifting some $200 million in Medicaid costs onto the city and tweaking the tuition reimbursement formula for charter schools so that the city would pay $30.3 million more. A spokeswoman for the mayor confirmed that the final fiscal plan dropped all these changes.

Still, the state’s plan to collect $200 million in city sales tax revenue stands. After the city refinanced debt that the state assumed on its behalf, the governor decided to collect savings stemming from this restructuring by taking $200 million annually from the city over three years. De Blasio spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said the city continued to object to this.

“This was in the wake of the recession and the wake of the World Trade Center disaster, and that’s why they lent us this help,” said Doug Turetsky, chief of staff for the New York City Independent Budget Office. “Now they’re saying, ‘We’re going to take the proceeds.’ … This is, I believe, unprecedented that the state will scoop up local tax revenue in this manner.”