April’s canceled NYPD academy class will be held after all, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday, crediting higher-than-expected tax revenue and cuts to migrant services.
The class, of 600 new recruits, is expected to graduate in October, according to a news release from Adams’ office. The savings from academy class cancellation was estimated at about $41.8 billion in the fiscal year, according to a November budget document.
How and when potential recruits would be notified that they’re eligible hasn’t yet been determined, according to NYPD spokeswoman Jessica McRorie.
Adams, speaking at a City Hall news conference, also announced that the additional revenue would mean the return of a fifth firefighter at 20 FDNY engine companies. He also said that certain other FDNY cuts won’t be made.
“The fifth firefighter, in its most simple terms, gets water on a fire faster,” FDNY commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.
Despite more money than expected, there remains a budget shortfall totaling billions of dollars over the next several fiscal years.
Late last year, Adams announced that among the across-the-board cuts to city agencies: the April NYPD class, along with several others, would be canceled and fewer firefighters would be on duty at 20 firehouses. Adams reversed those cuts Wednesday. He did not say whether the other canceled NYPD classes would be restored. He also didn’t say whether any cuts to other agencies — libraries, schools, parks and more — would be newly restored. There are three additional NYPD classes also set to graduate this year. Those hadn’t been canceled.
Also Wednesday, the Adams administration lowered its cost estimate for providing room and board to tens of thousands of foreign migrants through the coming fiscal year.
Since August, the administration has been estimating the cost at about $12 billion. But on Wednesday, Adams’ budget chief, Jacques Jiha, put the revised cost at just over $10 billion.
Adams said the city has been…
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