4 JANUARY 14, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Holden to mayor: No more budget cuts for community boards
Councilman Robert Holden File photo by Max Parrott/QNS
billion budget of fiscal year 2021 and
to cover a $3.8 billion budget gap for
fiscal year 2022.
“It won’t do much to help the shortfall,
but it will make it much harder
for community boards to function,”
he said. “Community boards have
historically always been underfunded
and are usually the first
targets of budget cuts in lean years.
Many of them have outdated technology
and rely on volunteer groups to
upgrade their technology, software
and training.”
Each community board is currently
facing a cut of about $3,700, and
about $8,000 for fiscal year 2022.
“And let’s remember that while the
mayor threatened to furlough workers
early on in the pandemic and
OMB announced a hiring freeze, we
saw nearly $2 million in big money
hirings and promotions in City
Hall,” Holden added. “Why the city
would cut support for an already
underfunded, largely volunteer
agency like a community board is
puzzling.”
Holden served in Community
Board 5, which encompasses the
Queens neighborhoods of Ridgewood,
Glendale, Middle Village,
Maspeth, Fresh Pond, and Liberty
Park, for more than 30 years.
Community boards act as advisory
bodies for the city in various
aspects, including land use, zoning,
park maintenance, liquor licenses
and other municipal services, with
up to 50 members who do not receive
compensation. Members are appointed
by borough presidents and
city council members for two-year
terms. boards are required to hire a
full-time district manager and other
staff to run a district office.
Gary Giordano, who’s served
as Community Board 5 District
Manager for 31 years, said the city
already cut approximately $12,000
from their 2021 budget.
He said they were able to find the
cuts in their Other Than Personal
Services (OTPS) expenses, but isn’t
sure where they would find further
cuts in their budget. Community
Board 5 currently has a budget of
about $250,000, with three full
time employees and one part time
employee.
“Each Community Board is in a
different position … I think the big
problem for a lot of boards will be
if they can’t come up with the cuts
from OTPS. Then they’ll have to go
into salaries,” said Giordano. “The
city is under a lot of pressure to
balance their budget, it’s just that
Community Boards make up a very
minuscule portion of the city budget.
In the current city administration,
numerous agencies have had an increase
in personnel, where we have
not. So it might be easier for some of
these big agencies to be able to take
a cut.”
Giordano said they are not sure
if the potential cuts for fiscal year
2022 are set in stone yet.
Florence Koulouris, district manager
for Community Board 1, which
encompasses the Queens neighborhoods
of Astoria as well as parts of
Long Island City and Woodside, said
that while the board hasn’t taken
an official stance on the potential
cuts, she emphasized the important
role the advisory bodies play in the
neighborhoods they serve.
“Community Boards are the truest
form of democracy — you have
50 individual who take away from
their time to volunteer for their community,”
said Koulouris. “We act as
liaisons between the community,
elected officials and city agencies.”
Koulouris said that although
their input into land usage is a big
aspect of their work, their primary
work involves day-to-day quality
of life issues that benefit from individuals
most familiar with their
neighborhoods.
When asked what other cuts could
be considered instead of from community
boards’ budgets, Holden said
other city agencies and programs
could afford some cuts.
“There’s a lot of fat in the city budget
to be trimmed, even after all the
cuts. The mayor recently announced
that he’s dumping more money into
ThriveNYC, which has produced no
tangible results,” said Holden. “Many
city agencies have been expanded
during the de Blasio years, whereas
the community boards have not.
They’ve had the same baseline budget
and staff and now they’re being
threatened with cuts.”
The mayor’s office did not respond
to a request for comment from QNS.
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
City Councilman Robert Holden
is urging Mayor Bill de Blasio to
spare the city’s 59 community
boards, including the 14 in Queens,
from further budgetary cuts.
Holden sent a letter to the mayor
on Dec. 23, 2020, expressing concern
over reported additional cuts the office
is asking the advisory boards to
make in order to find more savings
in the next fiscal year, as the city
faces billions in budget gaps as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While there is a need to tighten
our belts during this economic crisis,
which was precipitated by a novel
coronavirus, I firmly believe that
the Program to Eliminate the Gap,
otherwise known as PEG, should be
focused on larger agencies who can
more easily find cuts,” wrote Holden.
“Our community boards are already
operating on low margins due to
the first round of PEGs, and any
additional cuts will cripple them
ineffective. We cannot afford to lose
the services that a community board
provides.”
Community boards currently have
a $19 million budget in Fiscal Year
2021 (which began on July 1, 2020 and
ends in June 30, 2021).
Holden, who represents City
Council District 30, told QNS the
full round of potential cuts for all
59 community boards would amount
to under $700,000, what he called
a “drop in the bucket” for the $88
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