Queens Borough President Melinda Katz announced today that the Borough Board has unanimously approved a package of expense and capital budget priorities that it wants to see included in the City’s budget for Fiscal Year 2015.

     The package is outlined in a document prepared by the Borough President’s budget staff and is intended to aid in the shaping of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council must adopt by July 1.

     “The budget priorities that my office have prepared and that the Borough Board have approved outline a meaningful approach to solving some of the longstanding challenges faced by the Borough of Queens,” Katz said. “They are aimed at helping our City meet the needs of our borough’s diverse population in a fiscally prudent manner.”

The priorities approved by the Borough Board on Monday, March 10, 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 Borough Board’s budget hearing, which Borough President Katz chaired on February 20.  

     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 City Charter requires the Borough Board to submit a package of budget priorities each year to the Mayor, the City Council and the City’s Director of Management and Budget. This year those priorities are due March 24.

      The Borough Board’s official budget priorities document will be available on Borough President Katz’s website at www.queensbp.org after it has been submitted to the Mayor, Council, and the Management and Budget Director.