New York City Council puts $9.6M toward averting 150 Parks Department layoffs

The New York City Council decided Monday night to put $9.6 million from the Council’s budget to prevent 150 layoffs among New York City Parks and Recreation Department staff, City Councilman Mark Levine told City & State.  

Levine, who chairs the Council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, said all of the money would be used to cover compensation costs for 100 maintenance workers and 50 gardeners who otherwise would have been laid off when the next fiscal year begins July 1.

“To have lost these positions just as we enter peak season, the parks would have taken a hit - New Yorkers would have felt it,” he said. “This is just wonderful news for parks and for 150 families.”

The Council has historically funded these positions. But Levine said he had pushed for the administration to include funding for the positions in the department’s budget, emphasizing that many of the workers were deployed in smaller parks in lower income communities as part of the administration’s Community Parks Initiative, which is aimed at reinvigorating historically less-supported green spaces.

However, the suggestion did not sway Mayor Bill de Blasio. His administration did not appear to share Levine’s view that the personnel was poised to be laid off. The administration noted that the people in question were classified as seasonal workers whose contracts were slated to end June 30. With the $9.6 million, these contracts will be extended.

When asked by reporters last week if layoffs, reductions or other similar cost-saving techniques were used to reach a budget agreement, de Blasio’s Director of Management and Budget Dean Fuleihan said there were not any such measures.

“No, there are no layoffs,” Fuleihan said. “And there are not staff reductions. There are re-estimates on hiring practices. There are re-estimates about the spending. And it’s a more accurate reflection of how we’re moving forward.”

Levine praised other aspects of the budget. He was pleased the administration put $1.6 million toward extending the beach and pool season one week beyond Labor Day. He also highlighted $1 million allocated for removing tree stumps. The wait to have stumps removed from sidewalks and other city-owned spaces has reached more than two years, according to Levine, who described the delay as a source of frustration in many outer-borough communities.

Editor's note: This post has been updated with background information from the de Blasio administration.