After months of tense and protracted negotiations, Mayor Eric Adams and City Council leaders announced Friday that they had reached an agreement on a $112.4 billion budget for New York City that restores many of the cuts the mayor proposed, including to libraries and cultural institutions.
But other key programs were not included, including a popular, free preschool program for 3-year-olds.
The budget is particularly important for Mr. Adams, a Democrat who is running for re-election in a competitive primary next June. Mr. Adams insisted that deep budget cuts were needed to help offset the costs of the migrant crisis, new collective agreements for municipal workers and the end of federal pandemic aid.
The mayor and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams struck a celebratory tone during the announcement at City Hall, smiling and holding a model airplane to show they had “landed the plane” as promised. Adams said they found the courtesy necessary to fund important programs as the city faces major financial challenges.
“We are proposing a budget that invests in the future of our city and in the working class that makes New York the greatest city in the world,” the mayor said.
For months, City Council leaders and a wide range of city advocates have argued that the mayor’s budget cuts would make life more difficult for New Yorkers at a time when the city is increasingly unaffordable. Groups gathered on the steps of City Hall to demand funding for libraries and preschools and called on celebrities such as Hillary Clinton And Rachel Griffin Accursoa children’s entertainer known as Mrs. Rachel.
Library officials said Friday that restoring $58 million in funding would allow them to reopen branches on Sundays and remain open on Saturdays. They added that Sunday reopenings would begin at some branches “in the coming weeks”, returning to the same opening hours before the budget cuts that forced the closures in November.
The library battle is emblematic of the deep divide between the mayor and Adams’s representatives. The two sides can’t agree on basic revenue estimates and have very different visions for the city. Neither side has gotten everything it wanted.
Adams alluded to their differences Friday, arguing that the city should “move away from restoration and toward strengthening and building” during the budget process — a reference to the mayor’s budget cuts.
As the budget process progressed, updated revenue projections showed that many reductions were unnecessary. Fiscally conservative and liberal good-government groups and the Independent Budget Office have called City Hall’s revenue projections unnecessarily pessimistic and inaccurate. But the mayor still ordered agencies to cut their budgets.
Nathan Gusdorf, director of the left-leaning Tax Policy Institute, said the mayor’s “unduly pessimistic revenue forecasts” were “fiscally irresponsible” and had resulted in a hiring freeze and the elimination of jobs that helped the city to function properly.
“As the cost of living rises and our city loses working- and middle-class families, the mayor should prioritize greater investments in child care and affordable housing to keep New Yorkers here,” Gusdorf said, “rather than insisting on budget cuts that will only push more families out.”
Justin Brannan, chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee, said he and his colleagues never doubted the city had enough revenue to restore most of the mayor’s budget cuts, citing the need to invest in housing , early childhood education, arts and culture and mental health.
“If we want to ensure that New York remains the capital of the world,” Brannan said, “we must continue to invest in it.”
The budget also includes $2 billion in capital funding for affordable housing and restores funding for arts programs, HIV treatment programs, community compostingsummer programs for youth and half-price subway passes for poor New Yorkers.
A package of about $100 million has been earmarked for early childhood education and programs to improve the system so it can more equitably serve all New Yorkers, including Disabled children.
Approximately $20 million will be used to finance additional places in nursery school for 3 year oldsknown as 3-K. Other funding will go toward filling vacancies and eliminating waiting lists for children receiving special education services, and a biweekly task force will focus on addressing the issues.
Some 3-K supporters have been disappointed that the program has not received enough funding to make it truly universal.
“Parents are grateful to the New York City Council for its herculean efforts to secure a budget that reverses some of the mayor’s cuts to 3-K,” said Rebecca Bailin, executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care. “Despite these measures, families are still facing millions of dollars in unnecessary cuts to 3-K.”
Other groups, including municipal park supportersexpressed their greatest disappointment that the budget deal did not address their budget cuts, saying they were being “left behind.”
“There is no doubt that every New Yorker will notice the effects of such a myopic and harmful parks budget,” said Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks.
The city’s tax revenues have been about $650 million higher than expected over two fiscal years, helping to avoid some of the biggest budget cuts. Still, a $5.5 billion budget deficit is expected in 2026, and budget watchdogs have warned the city is unprepared for an economic downturn and called for more money to be put into reserve.
“The mayor has talked a lot about efficiency, but we have yet to see concrete results,” said Andrew Rein, chair of the Citizens Budget Commission.
Some Democrats who plan to run against Mr. Adams next year have criticized his management of the city, arguing that his budget cuts have sowed confusion and harmed working-class New Yorkers. The mayor’s budget cuts to early childhood education programs, for example, are expected to be a major issue in upcoming primaries.
“The mayor should focus on making our city more livable and more affordable,” said Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is considering a run for mayor. “Instead, his mismanagement and budget cuts are making life harder for families in every way. »
Scott Stringer, the former city comptroller who is explore a main challenge against Mr. Adams, said the mayor’s questionable revenue projections made it look like the city had regressed to the “bad old budget budget of the 1970s, when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy” and lamented that the budget was detrimental to the families and children of that time. particular.
Jessica Ramos, a Queens senator who is also considering a run for mayor, called the budget “mediocre and uninspired” and said the budget process should “evolve beyond public misappropriation.”
Mr Adams was apparently unaffected by the criticism during the budget presentation ceremony. He praised his “fiscal responsibility” during the budget process, but also urged New Yorkers to celebrate what had been restored, even holding a campaign rally afterward.
