De Blasio Agrees to Cut NYPD Funding by $1 Billion
June 29 2020 - 7:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Katie Honan and Leslie Brody
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he had agreed to shift
more than $1 billion in annual funding out of the New York Police
Department, as he and the city council raced to agree on the city's
budget for the coming fiscal year.
The mayor provided few details Monday about the proposed
reductions because he and the council were still in negotiations.
However, part of the funding changes would involve shrinking the
NYPD's head count and transferring school safety agents and
crossing guards from the control of the police to the Department of
Education, according to people familiar with the matter.
Under the proposal, the NYPD's annual funding would drop to
about $5 billion from $6 billion.
At a press conference Monday, Mr. de Basio also said that he had
also proposed to shift $500 million out of the NYPD's capital
budget. The money instead would go toward the improvement of youth
centers and public-housing, he said.
The mayor and city council must pass a budget for the coming
fiscal year by Tuesday night. The city faces a deficit of around $9
billion over the next two years because of a decline in revenue
after the new coronavirus devastated the economy.
The gap has forced the Democratic mayor and the council to
identify cost-saving measures and consider layoffs. The budget is
expected to be around $87 billion, down from the $95 billion
preliminary budget proposed earlier this year.
"We're in a whole different situation, in fact, than New York
City's ever faced in our history, a health-care crisis, an economic
crisis, a disparity crisis, a budget crisis all wrapped into one
and on a massive, massive scale," Mr. de Blasio said at the press
conference.
Gregory Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which
represents more than 5,000 school safety agents, said Monday that
he hadn't been informed of any change that would move safety agents
from the NYPD, and doing so would make schools more dangerous.
Alluding to the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old by a classmate
inside a Bronx public school in 2017, Mr. Floyd said "there will be
more if they separate school safety from the police
department."
Some advocates for less punitive discipline have pushed to
remove safety agents altogether, saying they often heighten
tensions and make schools feel like prisons. The agents are unarmed
but wear uniforms.
A Department of Education spokeswoman referred a request for
comment to the mayor's office.
A spokeswoman for the police department directed all funding
questions to the mayor's office. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has
previously said he supports some cuts to the police department if
they go to youth and social services, but didn't agree with $1
billion in reductions.
The planned cuts to the NYPD are a response to weeks of protests
across the country over the May 25 death of George Floyd while in
Minneapolis police custody. The protesters, including many in New
York City, have demanded overhauls to policing and the defunding of
departments.
Some members of the city council have vowed not to vote for a
budget that didn't cut the agency's budget by at least $1 billion.
Activists also have decried shifting responsibilities from the
police department to other agencies, saying they need larger cuts
to the NYPD's budget.
As the budget deadline approaches. Mr. de Blasio has warned
about cuts across all agencies, and of layoffs and furloughs of up
to 22,000 city employees by Oct. 1 if the city doesn't get more
help. The mayor also is looking to find savings within city labor
unions.
The city Department of Education told principals earlier this
month to plan for an estimated 3% reduction in their schools'
fiscal 2021 budgets, on average, noting that not all schools would
see such a cut. Department officials said they aimed to minimize
the impact on the most vulnerable communities.
Mr. de Blasio said he still hoped the city would get federal
assistance and that the New York state Legislature would grant the
city the authority to borrow up to $5 billion. The mayor said
Monday the state Assembly supported the plan, but the state Senate
didn't.
A spokesman for the state Senate majority leader said in a
statement that senators had concerns about the increase in city
spending each year since Mr. de Blasio took office in 2014.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 29, 2020 19:27 ET (23:27 GMT)
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