Mayor de Blasio, City Council agree to $75 billion budget giving middle-schoolers free lunch, adding

Mayor de Blasio, City Council agree to $75 billion budget giving middle-schoolers free lunch, adding 200 cops to streets

BY CORINNE LESTCH , ERIN DURKIN , JENNIFER FERMINO NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Mayor de Blasio and the City Council agreed Thursday on a $75 billion budget that expands spending across agencies, from putting 200 more cops on the beat to giving all middle-schoolers free lunches.

“It signals a new direction for New York City,” de Blasio said as he announced the budget deal — his first as mayor — with Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

The budget is $5 billion greater than the $70 billion plan the Council and then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg adopted at this point last year — a 7% increase that will draw scrutiny from fiscal monitors.

The final deal also is $1.1 billion greater than the budget de Blasio proposed six weeks ago, reflecting the addition of money from a union health care fund to pay for labor settlements, and the addition of more than $100 million in new services.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mayor-de-blasio-city-council-agree-75-billion-budget-article-1.1837221