In January, our administration inherited a $12 billion budget deficit — a fiscal crisis greater than the Great Recession. 
 Today I am proud to announce that our balanced budget has cleared the final step and passed the New York City Council.  We balanced the budget by taxing the rich and making government more efficient. We did not balance this budget on the backs of working people, and we never will.  Every year that follows will build on these principles: Honest budgeting. Fiscal discipline. Transparent government. And an unwavering belief that working people deserve a government that delivers for them every day.