Because of our budget problems over the last 17 months, every City agency has had to learn to do more with less. The good news is that they've succeeded. By most objective measures, City services have improved even as City government has had to tighten its belt. Because of the efficiency and accountability we've instilled in our government -- and because every New Yorker has made sacrifices -- last week we were able to restore funding to much-needed City services.

Our Administration has now restored $90.2 million in funding for vital services to the budget that we're asking the City Council to approve for Fiscal Year 2004, which starts July 1st. These restored funds will let us draw down $74.4 million in State and Federal matching funds for a wide range of programs. So the bottom line is that an additional total of $164.6 million will now be available in next year's budget. Those funds will be used for many purposes:

Maintaining twice-weekly garbage pick-ups citywide

Keeping libraries open five days a week

Underwriting our city's museums and cultural institutions

Hiring seasonal workers in parks and playgrounds

Providing summer jobs and after-school programs for young people

Funding public health services

Giving teachers money to buy classroom materials of their choice

Keeping a fourth Staten Island ferry operating during rush hours

Providing older New Yorkers, who have given a lifetime of work to our city, the services they need and deserve

Despite our budget problems, public safety is our highest priority. For example, last Tuesday we also opened state-of-the-art $45 million facilities at the Fire Department Academy on Randalls Island. They will give recruits and firefighters the best preparation and in-service training possible. And that afternoon, we reached an agreement with the United Firefighters Association to place a fifth firefighter with 40 engine companies citywide -- an increase from the 11 previously budgeted. As I have said repeatedly: We will not skimp on public safety. And that's money well-spent. The FDNY continues to set new standards of excellence. Response times to fires are down, and last year there were fewer fire-related civilian deaths in our city than in anytime in 75 years.

The recession has created a crisis affecting all our lives. New Yorkers have had to dig deeper in our pockets; City agencies have had to cut spending. By making sacrifices and pulling together, we're all helping to keep our city great.