REMARKS
Council Member Diana I. Ayala Opens General Welfare Committee Meeting on Fiscal 2025 Preliminary Budget
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5 min
Deputy Speaker and Chair of the General Welfare Committee, Diana I. Ayala, initiates the fiscal 2025 preliminary budget hearing, focusing on vulnerable city populations.
- Ayala addresses the allocations for the Human Resource Administration and the Department of Homeland Services within the $109.4 billion city budget.
- Expresses concerns over how the budget might affect essential programs and vulnerable demographics, highlighting SNAP and cash system backlog issues.
- Cites the challenges faced by community-based organizations and the need for strategic resource allocation amid the asylum seekers' challenge.
- Sets forth the hearing's agenda, including discussions on budget revisions, staffing concerns, and the impact of vacancies on service provision.
- Emphasizes the council's commitment to scrutinizing city budgets and operations to safeguard public funds and aid the city's most vulnerable.
Diana I. Ayala
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Thank you.
0:00:37
Sorry.
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I'm still trying to catch up my hour that I'm we're all missing, but I'm A little bit delayed.
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But good morning, everyone.
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I am deputy speaker, Diana Ayala, Chair of the General Wall Fair Committee.
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Thank you for joining me for the fiscal 2025 preliminary budget hearing for the General Welfare Committee.
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We will hear from 2 agencies, the Human Resource Administration and the Department of Homeland Services testifying under the umbrella of the Department of Social Services' DSS.
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The city's proposed fiscal 2025 preliminary budget totals $109,400,000,000, of which $14,800,000,000 or 13.5 percent funds DSS.
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This encompasses 10,800,000,000 for HRA and 4,000,000,000 for DHS.
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DSS serves some of the most vulnerable populations in the city, and these services are more vital now than ever.
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There were notable changes made in the preliminary plan for both agencies.
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HRAs saw 1,500,000,000 in new needs added to fiscal year 2024 owning with the majority of that funding going towards entitlement programs lacking adequate baseline funding, including cash assistance, city theft vouchers, HAZA Emergency Housing, and domestic violence shelter other adjustments and pegs decrease HRA's budget by 100 and $12,600,000 in fiscal year 2024, $128,600,000 in fiscal year 2025 and by over 130,000,000 in the outer years.
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On a positive note, I was very happy to see that the preliminary plan fully restored HRA's job training program, which had been cut in the November plan.
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In the preliminary plan, DHS had 86,000,000 new needs and flew school year 2024 only, notably including $63,500,000 to pay shelter security, the prevailing wage, which has been legislatively required for years, but is still not baseline.
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PAGS decreased DHS's budget by 58,900,000 in fiscal year 20 and by $89,300,000 in fiscal year 2025, largely due to the impact from the asylum seekers response cost re estimate.
0:02:51
I am concerned about the areas that the budget where the budget does not adequately support the essential programs administered by HRA and the necessary level of staffing required to provide clients with services in a timely manner.
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While HRA has made headway in the backlog of snap and cache systems applications, denial rates have increased which is troubling.
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We have been hearing that it is it is very difficult to get through to HRA by phone and their clients are experiencing very long wait times at HRA centers.
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I am also concerned that not enough support is being given to community based organizations such as the ones operating the city's food pantries and soup kitchens.
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While the budget maintains these central benefits programs administered by HRA and the shelter programs administered by DHS, we need to think more deeply about where we can Most effectively allocate our limited city resources, especially during these uniquely challenging times.
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BHS's shelter census which is now over 87,000, has nearly doubled over the past 3 years, largely due to the influx of asylum seekers.
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The ballooning shelter census and the high cost of the city's asylum seekers response makes the programs, makes programs such as the defense more important than ever.
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And the best way to move long term shelter residents into stable permanent housing.
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However, this program suffers from both underfunding and numerous process bottlenecks on top of the difficulty of finding affordable housing in a very expensive setting.
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In today's hearing, we would look we look forward to discussing adjustments made in the preliminary plan, including the Peds, staffing for benefits administration, the impact of vacancies on agency operations, how DSS is working in contracted nonprofit provide us super improved contracting, the plan for asylum response, efforts going forward and the metrics included in the fiscal 2024 preliminary measures management report.
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It is the council's job to carefully review the budgets and operations of city agencies to ensure that we are good stewards of public dollars.
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And that we are providing the city's most vulnerable residents with the services that they need.
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This is a job that I take very seriously.
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Before I welcome the commissioner, I would like to acknowledge that we've been joined by Speaker Adams and council members.
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Riley, Schulman, Kaban, and our and our viewers.
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Finally, I would like to thank the general welfare committee for their work on preparing this hearing.
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Perina Raman, finance analyst, Julia Harriman, senior head, Panina Rosenberg policy analyst and my chief of staff, Elsie and Carmezio.
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Now I would like to turn it over to Commissioner Park, our council leader, Arun.
