Alex did an amazing job helping us bring relief and aid to the families who were left without their homes and possessions after that devastating blaze, and I’d like to thank him, both for his hard work and for sharing his story.

You can read Alex’s story here.

FY 2011 Brooklyn Delegation Budget Letter to Groups

FY 2011 Brooklyn Delegation Budget Request Form

The City Council’s photographer, William Alatriste, just posted a fantastic series of photos from the Finance Committee hearing to the City Council’s Flickr account. You can see them here.

Good morning and welcome to the opening day of the City Council’s hearings on the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2011. My name is Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. and I am the new chair of the Finance Committee. I welcome everyone.

I would also like to take a quick moment to thank the entire Council Finance Division, especially Preston Niblack, Tanisha Edwards, and Juliana Han, for their hard work on these hearings.

The Preliminary Budget hearings mark the beginning of the Council’s role in the annual budget adoption process.

At the time of adoption of last year’s budget, the size of the gap for Fiscal 2011 was projected to be almost $4.9 billion. However, since budget adoption, due to lower than expected job losses, and an unexpected boost in profits of New York Stock Exchange member firms, OMB increased its forecast tax revenue by $1.7 billion for Fiscal 2010, and $727 million for Fiscal 2011, effectively reducing the budget gap to $2.6 billion for Fiscal 2011.

To close the remaining gap, the Mayor has proposed the following measures:

1. A tax fairness program, consisting of 2 measures: extending the mortgage recording tax to co-ops, and applying the sales tax to aviation fuel.

2. A citywide PEG package of $484 million for Fiscal 2010, and $1.1 billion in 2011, with 4 percent savings from uniformed agencies, and 8 percent from other agencies, on an annual basis. The Department of Education’s PEG will be realized by providing a 2 percent annual increase for teachers, rather than the 4 percent that was previously assumed.

3. Elimination of the collective bargaining reserve.

When the Mayor released his Preliminary Budget, his budget did not account for actions taken on the State level. On the State level, the most recent forecast for the New York’s State’s 2010-11 budget gap was raised to $8.2 billion.

To partially offset this gap, aid to New York City was severely affected. State budget actions will cost the City $1.3 billion, with the largest action being the permanent and complete elimination of the City’s share of unrestricted aid from the State totaling $656 million, also known as AIM funding.

In light of the State’s actions, the Mayor presented a separate “Contingency Plan” that included $1.3 billion in additional agency actions to deal with the budgetary shortfalls that would occur if the State Executive Budget was adopted as proposed.

According to the Mayor’s contingency plan, the state cuts would require school aid cuts in the amount of $493 million, which would mean laying off about 8,500 teachers, and an additional 3.6 percent city funds reduction in uniformed agencies, and an additional 7.2 percent reduction in all other agencies.

As you can see, we have a lot of work to do, and a lot still needs to be done to ensure that New York City will continue to provide core services. However, we must remember that the January Plan is just that – a plan. A lot remains uncertain. Much depends on the adoption of the State budget.

The Fiscal 2009 and 2010 budgets were balanced with two temporary revenue sources — the federal stimulus package, and the State budget. Fiscal 2011, however, is very different. While the federal stimulus funds continue to provide some budgetary relief in Fiscal 2011, the level of that relief is less than half of this year’s support, and very soon, the money will run out. As far as aid from New York State, while the City must be treated fairly, clearly, the size of the State’s gap will surely mean more pain for the City between now and the Executive Budget.

An essential function of these hearings will be to hear from the Administration, the agencies, and the public-at-large to ensure that agencies will be able to continue to fulfill their core mandates.

These are difficult times, and in such times, tough choices must be made. It is my hope that these choices will be made deliberately and responsibly through negotiation and with compassion for the residents of our great city.

These hearings will culminate in the Council’s Response to the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget, which is due on April 8th. We hope that our response will significantly influence the Executive Budget, due by April 26th.

As in the past, we kick off these preliminary budget hearings with OMB, the City’s Budget Office responsible for producing the Preliminary Budget. We will then hear from the Department of Finance, the Department of Design and Construction, which was created by this Committee in 1997 to more efficiently carry out capital projects, then our Comptroller John Liu, and finally the Independent Budget Office.

We will now hear from the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, Mark Page.

Here’s the text of the remarks I submitted at the MTA hearing last night in Brooklyn:

My name is Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. I represent the 47th District in the City Council, which includes Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Brighton Beach, and the people who live in those neighborhoods – along with people across the city – are going to be badly hurt by the cuts you’re proposing.

For my constituents, you want to discontinue the M train between Essex Street and Bay Parkway, driving thousands of commuters to further overcrowd the trains. You want to displace hundreds of more riders by cutting the x29 express bus and, on weekends, the x28.

You want to cut portions of the B4 and B64, as well as overnight service on the B64. And you propose reductions for the D, F and N on Saturday and Sunday. Coney Island survives on tourism during the summer, and by limiting the ways for people to get there, you will be doing major damage to our local economy.

Besides these cuts, you’ve proposed two very damaging initiatives: The first would eliminate student MetroCards. This should not even be on the table. A monthly unlimited MetroCard, which most students would need, is $89. That is a lot of money, especially for families on fixed incomes. For families with more than one child, it gets even worse. You are balancing your budget on the backs of our school children and we will not stand for that.

The second is the cuts to Access-A-Ride. Dropping some elderly customers at subway stations and bus stops instead of at their homes defeats the purpose of the system. Then they may as well take the subway or the bus. During the hot summers and cold winters, many of them will not be able to handle this hardship.

Our seniors and our children should be held harmless to these cuts.

The City Council already made a common-sense suggestion. Move $140 million of capital funds to temporarily close the gap in the operating budget. That money would come from two places – $90 million in unspent federal stimulus aid and $50 million in operating funds that are being used to supplement the capital budget. Doing that would help stop these devastating cuts.

These decisions you’re making are going to disrupt the lives of people across the city, making it harder for them to get to school, work, doctors appointments, and to the recreational activities that keep our economy moving. You need to come up with a better plan. You need to fix your own agency before you ask hard-working New Yorkers to fix it for you. You need to make decisions toward fiscal responsibility while still providing the best customer service possible.

Do not leave New Yorkers stranded.

Today I was honored to host my first Finance Committee hearing. I would like to thank Speaker Quinn for the faith she put in me to lead this important committee during these tough fiscal times.

On the agenda we had an expense budget modification, a transparency resolution, and three land use items. Three properties were seeking a property tax exemption through the Department of Housing Preservation & Development – Myrtle Mews on Staten Island, and Medgar Ever Houses and the Dr. Betty Shabazz Houses in Brooklyn. All the measures were adopted unanimously.

We will meet again tomorrow, March 4, at 10 a.m., for our preliminary budget hearing. Testifying will be the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Finance, the Department of Design and Construction, the comptroller’s office and the Independent Budget Office. The public is welcome to testify as well, starting at 4 p.m. The hearing will be held in Council Chambers at City Hall.

You can use the Finance tab on my Web site to keep up-to-date on the various budget hearings that will take place over the next several weeks.

The museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway. You can find it on a map here.

For my constituents, they want to discontinue the M train between Essex Street and Bay Parkway, as well as cut the x29 express bus and, on weekends, the x28. They also want to cut local buses, including overnight service on the B64. This is on top of general service reductions like running subways less often, ending free MetroCards for students and making changes to Access-a-Ride, so that some elderly people will be dropped off at subway stations and bus stops, instead of at their homes.

Make sure to come to the hearing tonight to let the MTA that these proposals are not acceptable.

But more importantly, they’ve posted their job application. They’re filling positions for ride operators, park services, retail, first aid assistants & EMTs, maintenance technicians, game operators, food & beverage servers, ticket sellers and logistics associates.

You can find the application here.

There’s only 93 days until the grand opening on March 29, so get your applications in as soon as possible.