New Yorkers deserve a budget that tackles the climate crisis while making the city more affordable and livable. On February 17th, Mayor Mamdani released the FY27 Preliminary Budget, kicking off the annual NYC budget process, which culminates in an adopted budget by the end of June. Outlined below are NYLCV’s FY27 top environmental budget priorities for New York City. NYLCV looks forward to working with the Administration and the City Council to deliver on a bold environmental and affordability agenda this budget cycle.
NYC Parks
In his campaign for Mayor, Zohran Mamdani pledged to allocate 1% of the city budget to NYC Parks. As the FY27 budget cycle is underway, the Mamdani Administration has the opportunity to rebuild an agency crippled by decades of disinvestment and, more recently, four years of disproportionate budget/PEG cuts and a hiring freeze. As a co-founder of the Play Fair for Parks Coalition, and a member of the Forest for All NYC Coalition, NYLCV recommends the following for the FY27 budget:
- Baseline the 274 parks positions currently funded by one-year contracts (Parks Enforcement Patrol, Rangers, Forestry, etc.) to retain staff long-term.
- End the hiring freeze and restore 600 eliminated full-time baselined union parks positions (City Parks Workers, Forestry, Capital Projects, frontline staff).
- Add 460 Parks 2nd-shift cleaners to staff 400 high-use sites and keep parks and restrooms clean.
- Add 227 forestry staff to address a backlog of 20,000+ uninspected tree conditions and 35,000+ open work orders.
- Create borough-specific mowing crews by adding 80 dedicated lawn-care positions to address the agency’s documented inability to care for park lawns and playing fields.
- Restore 59 capital team positions and add 60 more so that the nearly 100 stalled capital projects can resume, unlocking ~$450 million in neighborhood green space and resiliency investments.
- Increase trades staffing by 40% (130 tradespeople: plumbers, electricians, carpenters, masons, roofers, painters, etc.) for faster repairs and violation clearing.
- Invest $21.2 million to expand hours/services at all 36 recreation centers so 22 centers can operate 7 days/week, providing more programming and access.
- Add 250 PEP officers to increase the uniformed presence at 120 high-need parks.
- Increase overtime funding to $40 million so Parks can respond to storms, emergencies, and routine repairs outside regular hours.
- $1 million for the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to publicize and begin implementing Local Law 148 of 2023, the city’s first Urban Forest Plan, along with non-NYC Parks agencies tasked with heightened maintenance and expansion of trees in their jurisdictions.
NYC Department of Transportation
NYLCV has long-advocated that everyone should have access to reliable, affordable, and clean transportation in addition to safe streets and open spaces. The programs outlined below will help improve existing infrastructure for public transit, cycling, and pedestrians as well as make transit more affordable and safe.
- Hire more staff for DOT bus and bike lane projects, and prioritize building the mandated miles of protected bus lanes still required under Local Law 195 of 2019, otherwise known as the NYC Streets Master Plan, to make buses faster and more reliable and bike lanes more accessible. NYLCV is encouraged that the Preliminary Budget allocates $5 million each year for FY27-FY30 for bus and bike lane program funding, in addition to millions of dollars over the next few years for secure bike parking.
- Expand eligibility for Fair Fares to increase transit access and affordability, including:
- Expand Fair Fares to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL)
- Fully free for households under 150% of the FPL
- Expand Fair Fares with half-priced fares on MTA Express Buses and CityTickets on the LIRR and Metro-North railroads within New York City
- Automatic enrollment of qualified households so Fair Fares is easily accessible
- Commit long-term funding for DOT’s Vision Zero street safety projects, including funding for outreach, education, and staffing.
NYC Department of Buildings & NYC Fire Department
Decarbonizing buildings and rolling out more renewable energy infrastructure such as solar, battery energy storage, and thermal energy networks, is the best option to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20250.
- Fund and staff a new Local Law 97 Compliance Delivery Pilot Program, an all-in-one financing, technical assistance, and retrofit delivery pilot program to assist owners with the law’s compliance. The program should aim to lower the costs and reduce complexity through city bulk purchasing of equipment and services to comply with the law. NYLCV is encouraged to see approximately $1.8 million allocated each year from FY27-FY30 for the NYC Accelerator Expansion in the Preliminary Budget.
- Fund additional staff lines to support DOB’s Office of Technical Certification & Research and FDNY in streamlining battery energy storage system (BESS) permit review to ensure applications can be handled expeditiously, in line with the City’s affordability, climate, health, and equity goals. According to the New York 6 GW Energy Storage Roadmap, NYC will need approximately 2 GW of energy storage capacity within the five boroughs by 2030. Currently, there is just over 100 MW of energy storage deployed in NYC. This means ~380 MW of energy storage must be installed in the city annually between 2026 and 2030 to meet the 2 GW need. These agencies will need significantly more staffing to process applications.
NYC Department of Sanitation
One of NYLCV’s top policy priorities is getting us closer to our zero waste by 2030 goals. Food waste is the third largest source of New York City’s overall emissions according to the City’s integrated NYC Greenhouse Gas Inventory, after buildings and transportation. Twenty percent of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions come from household food consumption. Funding the programs below will help the city reach our zero waste goals:
- Increase funding and staffing for DSNY to implement the Zero Waste Act of 2023. This should include robust funding for outreach and education on DSNY’s Residential Curbside Composting Program and Community Composting programs to increase participation rates.
- Fund the purchase of Empire Bins, a European-style stationary on-street container for use by larger buildings, and automated side-loading trucks as the city continues to expand waste containerization.
NYC Department of Environmental Protection
New York City has already started to feel the effects of climate change. In order to ensure the city is prepared to withstand and plan for future flooding, funding must be allocated to NYC DEP for the following items:
- Provide $75 million for DEP staffing since the agency has a 13 percent vacancy rate, with nearly 800 unfilled staff positions.
- Eliminate the NYC Water Board Rental Payment, in which the City plans to charge the Water Board more than $1.3 billion in rent from 2026 through 2029, taking money away from DEP water-related infrastructure improvements. This includes $315 million proposed for FY27.
- $10 million in funding for the Bureau of Coastal Resilience to ensure that the City is ready for the next storm. This funding would provide $5 million to fully staff the office with 45 new positions in planning and operations, and provide an additional $5 million to develop a compound flood model to model coastal flooding in real time.
- Fund the Stormwater Masterplan and provide $10 million for three contracts. DEP has begun work on the Stormwater Masterplan as mandated by legislation, but they have not been funded to do so, leaving this planning process in limbo.
- Invest in and expand NYC’s Green Infrastructure (GI) Program, particularly when it comes to maintenance of GI, in order to absorb stormwater, purify the air, and mitigate the urban heat island effect.
- Dedicate $4 million to fully implement the Unified Stormwater Rule, including $3 million for 20 additional staff at DEP to support implementation of the Rule. When the USWR was expanded to apply to the entire city in 2021, DEP never received additional staff or funding for implementation, and this has led to a longer timeline for permitting approval of new sustainable development.
NYC Department of Education
Decarbonizing our transportation and building sectors is especially important to New York City’s public school buildings and school buses, both of which are overwhelmingly fueled by fossil fuels, not only contributing to climate change but to harmful public health impacts such as asthma.
- $2.2 billion for clean energy upgrades in NYC Public Schools which would expand solar installation on schools and electrification projects, insulation repairs and upgrades to HVAC systems.
- NYLCV urges the City, specifically DOE, to take the lead and fully commit to the timely implementation of Local Law 120 of 2021, mandating an all electric school bus (ESB) fleet by 2035 to cut harmful pollutants, improve public health and air quality, and fight climate change. New York State law requires all new school bus purchases as of 2027 to be electric, with the entire fleet transitioned to electric by 2035, so it is incumbent on the City to prioritize the rollout of ESBs and charging infrastructure.
NYC Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has been long-neglected due to significant underinvestment. The City must prioritize the health and safety of NYCHA residents by working with the State and Federal government to improve current building infrastructure and public health issues, as well as future climate threats.
- NYLCV appreciates that the Mamdani Administration will deliver modern heating and cooling to 712 homes as part of the city’s “Clean Heat for All” initiative by investing 38.4M to install clean, reliable heat pumps at NYCHA’s Beach 41st Street Houses in the Rockaways.
NYC Office of Emergency Management
As extreme heat events increase, the city has a responsibility to offer protections to its most vulnerable populations in times of emergency.
- Implement and fund Local Law 128 of 2025, which codifies the NYC Cooling Centers Program, including funding for maintenance, staffing, increased hours of operation during extreme heat events (including weekends), and a public education campaign on extreme heat mitigation.