BIDs receive over $3.1 million increase in annual spending. On November 28, 2007, the City Council passed a local law to increase the annual budget for 10 business improvement districts and one special assessment district. The increases will require property owners within these districts to pay more into their BID or SAD.

The Times Square Alliance received the largest increase at $768,000, bringing its annual budget to $10.4 million. Outside of Manhattan, the largest increase went to the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, located in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, which received a $100,000 increase, raising its annual budget to $350,000.

At the Council’s Finance Committee’s public hearing on November 28, 2007, Jeremy Waldrup, Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services, which oversees all the City’s BIDs, testified in support of the increases and noted that they would enhance the core services provided by the BIDs, such as sanitation, public safety, and streetscape beautification.

The Finance Committee voted unanimously to approve the proposal, and the full Council followed suit the same day.

Council: Int. No. 636 (Nov. 28, 2007).