Mayor De Blasio To Present $82 Billion Budget Plan
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposed executive budget will cover snow removal upgrades, a new police precinct, additional ambulance tours and more.
After streets went unplowed for days this winter, primarily in Queens, de Blasio is dedicating $21 million for new snow removal equipment, including 80 small plows to clear narrow residential streets.
"Sometimes the little things can make a big difference – especially in a snowstorm," de Blasio said in a statement released before he delivers his budget address Tuesday afternoon. "This new funding will make our streets safer for pedestrians and vehicles."
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the mayor said the city's economy is doing well, but a large part of his address and the press conference afterward focused on the disastrous state of the city's health and hospital system.
He said it's time to encourage better primary care over costly hospitalization.
"System faces an operating deficit of $1.5-billion by 2020," he said.
De Blasio said the city's hospitals are on life support, and there will be restructuring, cuts, and an infusion of money to keep it going.
The mayor in part blamed federal and state cuts, and ironically a progressive's dream, the Affordable Care Act.
"Congress instituted the Affordable Care Act with no structure in place for uninsured people. In New York there are half-a-million uninsured who will go to the health system and hospitals," he said.
De Blasio plans to pour around $500 million into the health and hospitals systems to help keep it afloat, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
The $82 billion spending plan also includes $70 million for a new police precinct in Southeast Queens that will serve Laurelton, Rosedale, Brookville and Springfield Gardens, 1010 WINS reported.
The FDNY will be getting $5 million to fund 50 new ambulance tours in an effort to reduce response times, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
"Our target for the most serious calls is to get to 90 percent of those in six minutes or less and currently we are not doing that," Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. "We are going to do everything we can with the help of the mayor's budget to get that number down and get to New Yorkers in need quicker."
The department will concentrate its efforts in Queens and the Bronx, where response times have been slowest.
"The department feels going forward we will provide a better service next year than we provided last year," Nigro said.
About $289 million will cover bridge repairs, with most of the funds -- approximately $244 million -- going towards a roadway replacement job on the Ed Koch-Queensboro Bridge. About $32 million is also being set aside for repairs on the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.
"Infrastructure in our city is in need of repair and the administration is obviously focusing on that," Lori Ardito, First Deputy Commissioner of Transportation, told 1010 WINS.
Under the budget, the city will also triple the number of intensive-care mental health units at the Rikers Island jail complex. Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte said the specialized units can improve safety by reducing jail violence.
The mayor said he will target $170-million for an alternative for younger inmates on Rikers Island.
De Blasio also reiterated a constant complaint that the city is not getting its fair share of state dollars.
"We're not seeing a proliferation if you will of the state trying to cut back resources of New York city, and to off-load obligations on the city," he said.
As for the hospitals, the mayor said none of them will close, but they will have additional uses like mental health care. He said there won't be any layoffs, but cuts through attrition.
The budget blueprint must be approved by the City Council by the end of June.
