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Council Member Brannan's opening remarks on DOHMH budget hearing
2:25:09
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119 sec
Council Member Justin Brannan opens the second half of the hearing on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's FY 2026 executive budget. He provides an overview of the budget figures, highlights the Council's previous budget requests, and outlines the main topics he plans to discuss in his questioning.
- The DOHMH's proposed FY '26 budget is $2.3 billion, representing 2% of the city's total budget.
- Brannan expresses concern over the lack of additional funding for school health services, maternal outcomes, animal welfare, and glucometer distribution.
- He emphasizes the importance of adequate health programming funding, especially in light of potential federal funding cuts.
Justin Brannan
2:25:09
Okay.
2:25:11
Good afternoon.
2:25:12
Welcome to the second half of today's hearing with the Department of Health and Mental Health.
2:25:16
I'm pleased to be joined by my colleague, Council Member Lynn Schulman, chairs the Committee on Health.
2:25:21
We've been joined for the second portion by Council Members Brewer, Narcisse, Malmarato, Hudson, Farias and Lewis.
2:25:28
Welcome again acting commissioner Doctor.
2:25:31
Morse and your team.
2:25:32
Thank you for joining us and staying here to answer some more questions.
2:25:36
On 05/01/2025, the administration released the executive financial plan for FY twenty six to twenty nine with a proposed FY '26 budget of $115,100,000,000 DOHMH represents 2,300,000,000 or 2% of the budget.
2:25:51
DOHMH's public health proposed FY '26 budget of 1,420,000,000.00 accounts for just about 61.5% of DOHMH's total budget.
2:26:02
Total budget increased by 117,500,000.0 or 9.2% from the 1,300,000,000.0 originally budgeted in the FY '26 preliminary plan.
2:26:13
As of March 2025 DOHMH has two twenty seven vacancies relative to their budgeted headcount in FY '25.
2:26:22
In the council's preliminary budget response we called on the administration to add 48,200,000 in expense funding for school health services, improving maternal outcomes, welfare for animals and glucometer distribution.
2:26:35
The executive plan does not include any additional funding for any of the identified items that we highlighted.
2:26:40
We cannot overlook the need for funding for new mothers, our students and overall improving the health outcomes for many New Yorkers especially at a time like this with the cuts coming from Washington.
2:26:51
Further compounded by these cuts and pauses, it's imperative to ensure our health programming is adequately funded to serve the interests of all New Yorkers.
2:27:00
My questions today will largely focus on the utilization of city funds, the medical debt relief program, and funds from the opioid the opioid settlement.