Cuts To School, Senior Programs Threatened In NYC Budget Plan

NEW YORK — Some school and senior programs face funding reductions in the city budget for the coming fiscal year that Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled Thursday.

The Democratic mayor's $92.5 billion 2020 executive budget would eliminate extended learning time at needy city schools to save $19 million. It also proposes cutting $6 million in subsidies for cultural institutions and saving $900,000 by getting rid of senior clubs in public housing.

Those cuts are among $916 million in savings that municipal agencies have found since February as the city grapples with economic uncertainty and an increased financial burden from the state, de Blasio said.

"We now are in a situation with these kind of dollar figures where certain service levels will be affected," the mayor said. "We had to make decisions about where we thought we could do that with minimal negative impact."

The extended learning cuts would affect schools in de Blasio's Renewal program, which aimed to turn around troubled schools with extra resources, and so-called Rise schools that graduated out of that program.

The de Blasio administration plans to wind down the Renewal program. The schools losing extended learning time will continue to receive additional money known as Fair Student Funding and will retain their status as Community Schools, which have additional resources to serve needy kids, the mayor said.

Additionally, the budget would end the use of the New York City Housing Authority's so-called senior clubs, which city officials say were underutilized and did not offer many services. Instead, the city will take affected seniors to established senior centers near their homes, officials said.

"That will also save us money while providing a better product to our seniors," de Blasio said.

The 2020 fiscal year budget marked the first time that de Blasio mandated city agencies to find savings. It also marks his first budget that will not see the city's workforce grow; it will in fact shrink by 357 positions, the mayor said.

The recently approved state budget forced the city to find more than $300 million to replace state funding cuts and support "unfunded mandates," de Blasio said. Those include $96 million required to implement election reforms such as early voting, which will start ahead of this November's election at about 100 locations in the city, the mayor said.

"These election reforms were exceptionally positive," de Blasio said. "I supported them fully, obviously believed and still believe they should be funded by the state since they were voted on by the state."

While de Blasio praised city agencies for finding nearly $1 billion in savings, a budget watchdog group says the efforts won't be enough if the economy goes south.

"A majority of the savings are from expense reestimates, increased revenues, funding shifts, and debt service savings, rather than from improved efficiency," Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said in a statement.