STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City’s budget woes are less dire than Mayor Eric Adams’ administration previously estimated, and on Tuesday, hizzoner released the first look at the upcoming annual budget.
Each year, the mayor and the City Council reach a budget deal around late June, but the final product is the result of a months-long process that starts with the release of the mayor’s preliminary budget.
Adams offered a series of preliminary budget outlines during an early-afternoon speech that highlighted funding restorations the mayor has announced in recent days.
The mayor announced a host of cuts last year that he and members of his administration tied to the ongoing migrant crisis, but Adams has since switched course announcing restorations to public safety funding, sanitation, and youth development
On Tuesday, Adams attributed the ongoing budget issues to a host of reasons ceding ground to members of the City Council who had long raised doubts about the mayor’s focus on migrants for the funding shortfalls.
“The growing asylum seeker crisis, COVID-19 stimulus funding drying up, tax revenue growth slowing, and unsettled labor contracts that we inherited widened the FY25 budget gap to a record level,” he said. “But, with responsible and effective management, we have been able to provide care for asylum seekers and balance the budget — without unduly burdening New Yorkers with a penny in tax hikes or massive service reductions, and without laying off a single city worker. We are not out of the woods — while we have put New York City on the right track, to keep moving forward, we still need help from the federal and state governments.”
His administration had maintained for months that the migrant crisis would cost the city more than $12 billion over the next few years, but have since reduced those estimates by almost $2 billion.
More than 170,000 people have made their way to the five boroughs since April 2022, and the tens of thousands still in…
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