Thursday, July 17, 2025, 3:00 – 4:05PM
By Zoom Videoconference
M I N U T E S
Members Present: David Klotz (Governmental Co-chair), David Martin (Community Co-chair), Billy Fields (Finance Officer), Raffi Babakhanian, Paul Carr, Joan Edwards, Rasheed Ford, Ronnie Fortunato, Marya Gilborn, Freddy Molano MD, Guadalupe Dominguez Plummer (ex-officio), Marcelo Maia Soares, John Schoepp
Members Absent: LaShonda Cyrus, Steve Hemraj, Emma Kaywin, Brooke Montes, Julian Palmer
Other Planning Council Member Present: Leah Richberg
Staff Present: NYC DOHMH: Michael Navejas, Doienne Saab, Abraham Omeyoma, Johanna Acosta, Adrianna Eppinger-Meiering, Renee James, Jimmy Jaramillo; Public Health Solutions: Gemma Barclay, Arya Shahi, Peter Chea
Closed Session: Planning Council Appointments
In closed session, the Committee met to review the Rules & Membership Committee’s slate of candidates for reappointment and appointment for terms beginning in September. The slate of candidates was approved unanimously. The RMC was thanked for their time and effort reviewing applications and conducting interviews. Mr. Omeyoma was commended for his efforts to increase the number of applications.
Agenda Item #1: Welcome/Introductions/Minutes/Public Comment
Mr. Martin and Mr. Klotz opened the meeting followed by introductions and a moment of silence in memory of Jairo Pedraza. The minutes from the June 16, 2025 meeting were approved with no changes.
Agenda Item #2: Public Comment
Mr. Maia stressed the importance of understanding the impacts of cuts to federal programs and other policies that will impact the Council’s work.
Agenda Item #3: GY 2026 Application Spending Request
Mr. Carr explained that every year, the Priority Setting & Resource Allocation Committee (PSRA) develops a spending request for the next year’s grant application. HRSA allows EMAs to request a maximum 5% increase over the current award. HRSA has informed EMAs that the balance of the GY 2025 award will be received by the end of this month. National appropriations for this year were kept at same level as 2024, so the total award for the current year should be in the same ballpark as GY 2024. In February, the PC-approved scenario plan will cover any potential reduction to the award through savings in carrying costs and an upfront reduction to ADAP.
PSRA’s spending plans assume level service category allocations (with some modifications approved by the Council in February, which David will describe). The plans use a formula, and the exact numbers will be adjusted when the balance of the current year’s award is received.
The PSRA developed its plan with some uncertainty about next year’s funding. The line item appropriations for the GY 2026 federal budget will be considered by Congress in September, based on the recently passed large tax and budget bill. We should know then about possible drastic cuts to various federal programs that will impact Ryan White. One possibility is the elimination of Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) funding. PSRA approved an MAI plan in the event that funding still be available. In development of the spending request, PSRA considered other possible reductions in federal programs, including HOPWA and SNAP, as well as recently approved rent increases for rent controlled apartments.
Mr. Klotz explained the adjustments to the GY 2025 spending plan approved by the Council last February that will be implemented regardless of the final award:
- Addition of $1.2M to Housing
- Reduction of $392K to Non-Medical Case Management
- Reduction of $193K to Psychosocial Support Services
- Redistribution of Behavioral Health category allocations
In addition, for GY 2026, $250K of Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) funds are moved from NYC to Tri-County (TC) to implement the Council’s directive that two separate programs be funded.
Ms. Gilborn presented the PSRA-approved GY 2026 Spending Plans:
- Tri-County Plan (developed by the TC Steering Committee): allocates a potential 5% increase evenly to Housing and Food and Nutrition Services.
- NYC MAI Plan: allocates all of a potential 5% increase to Housing.
- NYC Base: allocates the theoretical 5% increase in NYC Base programs to Housing, FNS and EFA proportionately weighted by ranking score.
In response to a question from Mr. Babakhanian, Dr. Acosta explained that the current Tri-County EFA provider will continue to serve NYC clients during the new NYC program’s startup phase.
A motion was made on behalf of the PSRA Committee to accept the GY 2026 TC, NYC Base and NYC MAI spending plans as presented. The motion was adopted 12Y-0N.
Mr. Klotz noted that when PSRA reconvenes in the fall and winter, the Committee will know more about reductions to MAI and other programs and will develop a scenario plan for potentially drastic reductions in funding. The scenario plan developed for such a scenario in GY 2025 can be used as a template.
Agenda Item #3: Other Business
Mr. Klotz reviewed the agenda for the July 24th Council meeting. In addition to the spending plan, there will be an election for community co-chair and a policy update from Adrian Guzman.
The Committee thanked retiring Committee member Ms. Fortunato for her dedication as a Council member and IOC Committee co-chair. Ms. Fortunato expressed her gratitude to the Council for the opportunity to serve.
Mr. Klotz noted that there will need to be a brief Executive Committee meeting after the award is received to approve a Council support budget. The budget, which supports all operations of the Council, will be negotiated between the Council leadership and Recipient.
There being no further comment, the meeting was adjourned.
