After three straight years of increased tax revenue, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, D, intends to spend an additional $800 million next year to shore up the finances of money-losing public hospitals, clinics and nursing homes.
The mayor’s proposed $82.2 billion budget for fiscal 2017, which he will present Tuesday afternoon, includes $700 million more for hospital operations and $100 million in bond-derived capital funds. The infusion brings to $2 billion the total the city would spend on its 11 public hospitals and system of community clinics, assisted living facilities and home health care, according to a briefing memo released by the mayor’s staff.
The Health and Hospital Corp., the largest U.S. municipal health system, which serves 1.2 million people, faces a projected $2 billion deficit in 2019. De Blasio said the spending increase would help stabilize the system’s finances at a time of reduced federal and state support, and help create a revamped preventive health-care system focusing on neighborhood clinics and home-based care.
“This plan will not close any more hospitals or lay off any workers, but expand comprehensive health care, especially in high-need communities,” de Blasio said in a statement prepared for the budget announcement. “We are implementing long-term sustainable solutions, rather than band-aid fixes, to stabilize hospital finances and save our public health-care system.”
Elected in 2013 as a self-described progressive who advocated taxing the rich, he’s instead worked with the real-estate industry to push for developer subsidies in return for required minimum percentages of affordable housing units in new residential construction.
By February, the city collected $723 million more revenue than officials had anticipated in November, according to a March 1 report by Comptroller Scott Stringer.
The mayor also said he saved about $2.3 billion by eliminating waste and unsuccessful programs.
As sweeteners made possible by good times, de Blasio proposed a one-time $183 credit off a year’s water bill for 664,000 homeowners in single-to-three-family residences, and a $250 credit for 40,000 landlords operating buildings featuring “affordable apartments.”
The spending plan also calls for $1 billion in reserve funds through 2020, and a $500 million fund to protect against the risk that a spike in interest rates could cause the city’s debt service costs to soar. The mayor also set aside $250 million for a fund to pay for future employee health benefits, which would bring its total to $3.7 billion.
The 51-member City Council must approve a spending plan by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, after negotiations with the mayor.
(c) 2016, Bloomberg · Henry Goldman