New York City Leaders Reach Deal on Austere Budget, Police Cuts -- Update

[Valin]

Market Screener

06/30/2020 | 05:41pm EDT

By Katie Honan

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he and New York City Council leaders had reached an agreement on an $88.19 billion budget for the coming fiscal year that drastically cuts city spending while shifting $1 billion in funding from the New York Police Department to youth and social services.

(Snip)

More than a dozen of the council's 50 members vowed to vote against the budget over varying concerns about NYPD funding, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the members said the reductions to police funding weren't significant. Others said they opposed major funding reductions to the NYPD.

(Snip)

Under the budget agreement, overtime for NYPD personnel would be reduced and an upcoming class of more than 1,100 police academy cadets would be canceled. About $500 million would be taken out of the NYPD's capital budget and allocated toward summer youth programming, education, recreation centers and broadband infrastructure at the city's public-housing developments.

A homeless-engagement unit and school crossing guards, which are currently under the police budget, would be shifted to other agencies, Mr. de Blasio said.

In all, more than $1 billion in funds would be shifted from the police department to other agencies. The NYPD's annual operating budget would drop to about $5 billion from nearly $6 billion.

"This is real redistribution," the mayor, a Democrat, said at a press conference.

(Snip)

_____________________________________________________________________________