NYC GIVES ACS $2.6 BILLION IN LATEST BUDGET- DESPITE ACS DYSFUNCTION

 NOTE ON THE FISCAL 2021 EXECUTIVE BUDGET FOR THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES (ACS) COMMITTEE ON GENERAL WELFARE AND COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE SYSTEM

 

New York City Council

Hon. Corey Johnson, Speaker
Hon. Daniel Dromm, Chair, Committee on Finance
Hon. Stephen Levin, Chair, Committee on General Welfare Hon. Rory Lancman, Chair, Committee on Justice System

Finance Division

Latonia R. McKinney, Director Regina Poreda Ryan, Deputy Director Nathan Toth, Deputy Director Paul Scimone, Deputy Director Dohini Sompura, Unit Head Daniel Kroop, Senior Financial Analyst

On April 16, 2020, the Administration released the New York City Executive Financial Plan for Fiscal 2020-2024 with a proposed budget for Fiscal 2021 of $89.3 billion. The budget for the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), under the jurisdiction of the Committee on General Welfare and the Committee on Justice System, accounts for $2.65 billion and represents three percent of the Fiscal 2021 Executive Budget. This note provides a summary of the changes in the Executive Budget for ACS introduced in the Financial Plan. Topics covered include ACS’ response to the COVID-19 emergency, changes to the Expense and Capital Budgets, and budget issues. The appendix on page 8 includes a financial summary table including changes by program area.

ACS Budget Overview

ACS’ Fiscal 2021 Executive Budget totals $2.65 billion and funds child welfare, foster care, preventive services, child care voucher administration, and juvenile justice services. As shown in the center of the below graphic, the Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) program reduces ACS’ City tax-levy budget by $41 million or 4.8 percent in Fiscal 2021. The revenue PEGs of $34.4 million have no net budget impact. The $4.5 million rightsizing of Close to Home capacity and overtime reductions of $1.9 million have been recommended by the Council previously. There are also $100,000 in efficiencies, of which $91,000 is IT insourcing.

$2.69 Billion Fiscal 2021 Prelim

• PS: $537M • OTPS: $2.15B • Headcount: 7,483 • New Needs: None • Savings: ($2.7M)

($41 Million) Exec PEGs for FY21

State child block grant revenue: ($30M) Federal IV-E revenues: ($4.4M) Close to Home rightsizing: ($4.5M) Overtime Reduction: ($1.9M) Efficiencies: ($100K)

$2.65 Billion Fiscal 2021 Executive

($40M) reduction compared to Prelim PS: $534M OTPS: $2.12B Headcount: 7,424 New Need: $937K for State TANF Flexible Funds (FFFS) Cost Shift*

The city continues to fund the bloated budget of ACS.

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