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TI MES




                                                              QUEENS














                                           Published for the Borough of Queens




          VOLUME 28, NO. 47                                   THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2023                                                  25 CENTS

                                                                          Senator Addabbo Joins Governor
            Statement From State Comptroller
                                                                    Hochul as She Signs His Diwali School
              Thomas P. Dinapoli On Mayor’s
             November Financial Plan Update                                           Holiday Bill Into Law

                New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released
           the following statement today regarding the update to the city’s
           Financial Plan:
                “Today’s release of New York City’s November Financial Plan
           update highlights the difficult steps needed to generate savings
           that will balance the city’s budget this year, and in the future, as
           substantial budget volatility is expected to continue. Unfortu-
           nately, it remains unclear how the city prioritized its choices to
           minimize the impact on critical public services. Budget choices
           that are not made efficiently — reducing costs without hurting
           services — can undermine the progress the city has made in
           public safety, health, education and trash management.
                “The budget update also continues the city’s practice of not
           fully budgeting for known spending risks, including for trans-
           portation, education and social services. The city did not budget
           for the cost of expanding its Family Homelessness and Eviction
           Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) housing voucher program or its
           school class size mandate. While the city did add $3 billion for
           managing the influx of asylum seekers in Fiscal Years (FY) 2026
           and 2027 — part of the $10 billion added for this cost across the
           whole plan — those costs are likely to be higher than expected.
           The combination of these unbudgeted and underbudgeted costs
           is likely to exceed the savings generated in the plan, an average
           of $2 billion per year beginning in FY 2025.            Senator Addabbo joins Governor Kathy Hochul and other elected officials and leaders as
                “The good news in the financial plan update is that revenues   she signed the Diwali bill into law. Photo Courtesy Governor’s Office. See story on page 2.
           have outpaced projections by $775 million so far this fiscal
           year. If sustained for the rest of the fiscal year, the city will
           have additional resources to manage spending pressures this      Meng Commemorates Two Year
           year and potentially even build reserves to buffer against future
           unanticipated spending. If the city had built up reserves earlier, it
           could have mitigated the severity of the service cuts it now faces.    Anniversary Of The Bipartisan
                “With private sector job growth fully returned, the city should
           remain laser focused on its efforts to stay a place where people               Infrastructure Law
           want to live, work and invest. Economic growth will support
           revenue growth and help the city manage its budget. The city
           must continue to balance its budget while keeping the impact on
           critical services in mind and it must inform the public on how
           it is achieving this.”

         Brandeis Association Installation Gala

























        Brandeis Association newly elected President Bradley Siegal, Chair
        Hon.  Gia Morris,  Justice Laurence Love,  Justice Jeff Lebowitz   Congresswoman Meng highlighting upgrades to the Long Island Expressway in Queens and curb
        (ret), and Justice Jeremy Weinstein (ret). See story on page 2.  ramps in the borough, both among local projects paid for with money from the BIL. See story on page 6.
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