a. Definition. The term "discretionary increases" as used in this section shall mean an amount equal to the total amount of general fund expenditures of city funds and state and federal funds over which the city has substantial discretion proposed to be made in the ensuing fiscal year for all purposes other than debt service minus the sum of the following items as certified by the mayor, including related fringe benefits:
(1) all such proposed expenditures which are necessary to continue to operate current programs and provide current services at the levels at which they were authorized to be operated or provided, pursuant to the expense budget for the current year as adopted in accordance with section two hundred fifty-four and two hundred fifty-five or at levels not exceeding such levels;
(2) all proposed increases in such expenditures for current programs or services which are projected to be necessary to accommodate projected increases in the caseload of current programs or to accommodate a portion of such projected increases;
(3) all proposed increases in such expenditures for current programs or services which are projected to be necessary as a result of federal, state or local laws or judicial decisions which require increases in benefit levels, service levels, or similar matters;
(4) all proposed increases in such expenditures for new programs or new services required by federal, state or local law to be initiated during the ensuing fiscal year; and
(5) all proposed expenditures, in excess of the expenditures specified in paragraph one of this subdivision, which are necessary to continue to operate current programs and provide current services at the levels at which they are currently authorized to be operated or provided pursuant to the expense budget for the current year as modified in accordance with section one hundred seven, excluding the portion of such excess which is attributable to budget modifications adopted in accordance with such section which were not necessary to (i) continue to operate programs and provide services at the level at which they were authorized in the expense budget for the current year as initially adopted, (ii) accommodate actual but unanticipated caseload increases in such programs, or (iii) accommodate actual but unanticipated increases in spending of the types referred to in paragraphs three and four of this subdivision, and excluding that portion of any expenditure increase which was financed by a decrease in any appropriations originally included in the executive expense budget for the current year to pay for a discretionary increase.
b. Borough allocation. Five percent of the total amount of the discretionary increases which the mayor includes in the executive expense budget for the ensuing fiscal year shall be allocated among the boroughs by a formula based on factors related to population and need and shall be known as the expense budget borough allocation. Such formula shall be established by local law, but in any fiscal year for which no such local law is effective, such expense budget borough allocation shall be allocated among the boroughs on the basis of the average of (i) each borough's share of the total population of the city, (ii) each borough's share of the total population of the city below one hundred twenty-five percent of the poverty level, and (iii) each borough's share of the total land area of the city. Such a borough allocation shall be reduced by any amounts necessary, in excess of the amounts available pursuant to section one hundred two-a, to pay for the operating costs, as certified in accordance with the provisions of subparagraph a of paragraph one of subdivision c of section two hundred eleven, of capital project constructed with funds recommended for appropriation by the borough president in accordance with the provisions of section two hundred eleven.
c. Preliminary borough allocations; initial borough president notification. Concomitantly with the submission of the preliminary expense budget, the mayor shall inform each borough president of the portion of the executive expense budget for the ensuing fiscal year and for the three subsequent fiscal years that, pursuant to the formula required by subdivision b of this section, would be allocated to each borough if the amount of the discretionary increases for the ensuing fiscal year and for the three subsequent years were the same as the amounts projected by the mayor, in accordance with section one hundred one, to be available for such purposes in such years. The amount of such portion shall be known as the preliminary expense budget borough allocation.
d. Borough president proposals. Each borough president, during the consultations required by section two hundred forty-four, shall submit to the mayor, in such form as the mayor shall prescribe, proposed appropriations for the expense budget not exceeding such borough's allocation of the expense budget borough allocation as certified by the mayor to the borough presidents during such consultations. The timing of such certification shall allow sufficient time for such consultations and for meeting the deadlines established by section two hundred forty-nine. The mayor shall include such proposed appropriations without modification in the executive expense budget in accordance with the provisions of subdivision two of section one hundred three; provided, however, that the mayor may also include such comments and recommendations relating to such proposed appropriations as the mayor may deem proper.