“City and state officials have said we are not going to be able to backfill everything,” said Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the Citizens Budget Commission. “If you can’t backfill everything, how do you decide what you do backfill?”
During budget negotiations, the City Council added $40.6 million in new mental health investments. Some of that funding was allocated directly to programs slated for federal cuts. For example, the council allocated $5 million in discretionary funding to the 988 suicide crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers after the federal government decided to stop funding specialized 988 support for LGBTQ individuals last month.
“When we saw potential cuts there, we felt strongly that we had to keep funding where it was,” said Queens Councilwoman Linda Lee, who chairs the mental health committee.
The bulk of the Council’s behavioral health investments were funneled into crisis outreach programs. The budget includes $11 million in new funding to expand the city’s intensive mobile treatment program and $4.5 million to bolster assertive community treatment teams, both of which dispatch outreach workers into streets and subways to connect people with severe mental illnesses to treatment. Lawmakers also pushed for a $1 million EMS mental wellness pilot to support first responders experiencing trauma.
Lee said that the investments in crisis outreach programs are part of a strategy to prevent cases of serious mental illness from showing up in hospital emergency rooms, an effort that will help the city’s medical network cut costs.
In addition to mental health investments, lawmakers added $25.9 million for health care programs. Some of that funding seeks to bolster services that have been targeted by the Trump administration, including a $3.5 million investment in gender-affirming care services.
“Trump-proofing our city requires investing in the services New Yorkers need, including those Trump and his allies in Congress have already cut or are seeking to undermine,” said council spokeswoman Julia Agos. She noted that the budget protects access to critical programs such as the 988 hotline and gender-affirming care, while allocating $2 million to a city program that helps New Yorkers navigate health insurance, as the federal government advances policies that will force many to lose coverage.
City funds for health services that face federal cuts could temporarily bolster services for trans health care and mental health crises. But the magnitude of federal cuts is much larger, with the city’s hospital network alone slated to lose $7.4 billion under the federal reconciliation bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday, according to an estimate from the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Champeny of the Citizens Budget Commission criticized the city’s decision against allocating any funds to reserves, which she said is the most effective way to plan for the cuts that will not only affect Medicaid, but also housing and welfare programs. The council says it has a record $8.45 billion in the bank, including $2 billion in a rainy day fund and $1.45 billion in reserves. Citizens Budget Commission still recommended that the city allocate another $2 billion to a rainy day fund to prepare for the next recession, and put aside more funding to preserve programs after the initial blow of federal cuts – neither of which it did, Champeny said.
“Facing federal risks and the possibility of a recession, it’s not the wise or smart choice not to bolster reserves,” Champeny said.
This story has been updated to reflect how much money the city has in reserves.
