Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
REMARKS
Council Member Lynn Schulman delivers opening remarks for DOHMH budget hearing
0:00:30
ยท
4 min
Council Member Lynn Schulman, chair of the NYC Council's Committee on Health, delivers opening remarks for the fiscal 2026 preliminary budget hearing for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). She outlines the budget totals, highlights concerns about federal funding cuts, and emphasizes the importance of restoring funding to various health programs.
- DOHMH's fiscal 2026 budget totals $2.1 billion, a 1.8% decrease from the previous year
- Concerns raised about potential federal funding cuts and their impact on NYC's public health initiatives
- Call for DOHMH to reverse prior funding reductions to community-based organizations
Lynn Schulman
0:00:30
Good morning, everyone.
0:00:32
I am council member Lynn Schulman, chair of the New York City Council's Committee on Health.
0:00:36
Thank all of you for joining us at the fiscal twenty twenty six preliminary budget hearing for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
0:00:44
I would like to thank my fellow council member, chair Linda Lee for joining me for this hearing.
0:00:49
I would also like to thank acting commissioner, doctor Michelle Morrison, everyone who is with us today and acknowledge that we have been joined by council members Menon, nurse Hanif, and public advocate Jemani Williams.
0:01:03
Before we start, I just have something that I would like to do with Chair Lee.
0:01:10
So Danielle Heifetz who has been our finance person for a very long time is leaving the council and so we're gonna be giving her a certificate.
0:01:22
So we're gonna do that we're gonna do that now.
0:01:29
Come on get up.
Dr. Gillian Dean
0:01:32
Hold it.
Lynn Schulman
0:01:43
Congratulations Danielle and we wish you a lot of luck in your future endeavors.
0:01:47
Okay.
0:01:50
Now to the topic at hand.
0:01:55
DOHMH's fiscal twenty twenty six budget totals $2,100,000,000, which represents approximately 1.8% of the city's budget.
0:02:05
This budget includes a little over $1,000,000,000 for the city's public health services, which comprises 478,000,000 for personal services and just over $822,000,000 for other than personal services.
0:02:19
Funding for health was reduced by almost $36,000,000 from the fiscal twenty twenty five adopted budget which includes a a decreased funding of approximately $49,000,000 in federal dollars.
0:02:32
Currently, The United States has begun process of leaving the World Health Organization which is an important resource for accessing health care data.
0:02:40
Several staffers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were assigned to work with DOHMH have been let go effectively cutting off New York City's direct line of communication with this critical public health agency.
0:02:52
The federal government's policies have also threatened several existing federal grants provided to the city.
0:02:59
While no programs have been officially cut as of today's hearing, the threat of losing federal funds is still prevalent.
0:03:06
It is important that DOHMH assess all of assesses all of the rapidly changing developments on the federal level to prepare for both the best and worst case scenarios to ensure that the important healthy NYC initiative to expand life expectancy can continue to move forward and that New Yorkers stay healthy.
0:03:24
While the council is monitoring any potential federal funding reductions, we are also looking to restore other sources of funding that were reduced in DOHMH's budget.
0:03:34
Between the fiscal twenty twenty three November plan and the fiscal twenty twenty five adopted plan, there was a reduction of over a hundred million dollars due to the program to eliminate the gap and other savings programs.
0:03:47
So far only HIV and AIDS services funding so far only the HIV and AIDS services funding cut was restored and baselined at $5,400,000.
0:03:57
However, multiple programs have not been restored yet.
0:04:00
It is important that DOHMH reverses the prior funding reductions to community based organizations and funds them at their prior funding level in fiscal year twenty twenty six.
0:04:11
Before we begin, I would like to again thank the finance staff Danielle Heifetz and Florentine Kabor for all of their work on this hearing.
0:04:18
Committee staff Chris Pepe and Sarah Suchar and Joshua Newman for their support.
0:04:23
And finally, I would also like to thank my staff Jonathan Boucher, Kevin McAleer and Abigail Zucker.
0:04:29
I will now turn it over to chair Lee for her opening remarks.