Recommendations Seek to Address the Borough’s Longstanding Issues

QUEENS, NY – Borough President Melinda Katz submitted to the Mayor and City Council recommendations for the expense and capital budget priorities that the Borough President and her fellow members of the Queens Borough Board want to see included in the City’s adopted budget for Fiscal Year 2016.

The recommendations were prepared by the Borough President’s budget staff and was approved by the Queens Borough Board on March 9. The document is required by the City Charter and is intended to aid in the shaping of the FY16 budget, which Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council must adopt by July 1, 2015.

“The recommendations included in this budget priorities document seek to provide a meaningful approach to addressing some of the longstanding issues faced by the Borough of Queens,” Borough President Katz said. “Our recommendations are intended to help craft a fiscally responsible City budget that will address the concerns of our diverse population of 2.3 million people and make Queens an even better place to live, work and visit.”

The recommendations include:

The Borough President’s budget office prepared these priorities after reviewing information supplied by the borough’s 14 Community Boards and by local organizations seeking City funding. This information included oral and written testimony submitted during the Queens Borough Board’s budget hearing, which Borough President Katz chaired on February 23.

“I thank all of the community leaders who testified at our February 23 budget hearing,” Borough President Katz said. “Your testimony helped us shape a well-crafted document that contains dozens of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of life of Queens residents.”

The Borough Board is made up of the Borough President, the members of the City Council representing Queens and the chairs of borough’s community boards.

The full recommendations are available on Borough President Katz’s website at www.queensbp.org/budget as “FY16 Preliminary Budget Response”.