New York mayor set to deliver annual budget address

Under the plan announced Wednesday by the mayor and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the city's cultural institutions will get 30 million dollars from the city in the 2007 fiscal year, city parks will get another 14 million dollars for maintenance and security, and child care programs will get 10 million dollars.

The mayor also announced changes to the way funding is distributed to the hundreds of arts groups that rely on city money. Now each group will have the same chance at funding from a 30 million dollar pool, which will be awarded through a peer review process.

"Funding will no longer be based on budget lines that have been frozen in the budget for decades, nor will cultural programs that have small budgets have to spend an inordinate amount of time lobbying the council for member items," said Bloomberg.

"All of us in the City Council have spent a lot of time and energy talking about reforming the budget and we made some very important steps forward in last year's budget process," said Quinn. "But it was important for us to continue that reform. Why? Because taxpayers deserve the most forward thinking process possible."

The mayor's budget address will be broadcast live on TV channel NY1 and streamed live on NY1.com Thursday beginning at noon.