Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday called off the next round of budget cuts — sparing all city agencies further belt-tightening and lifting a hiring freeze — citing “better-than-expected” revenue and further reductions in migrant spending.
City Hall, in part, attributed the cancelation of the third wave of 5% cuts anticipated for this fiscal year to a 10% slash in spending on care for the tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the Big Apple, bringing the total cost of the crisis at just below $10 billion.
“Make no mistake — we are not yet out of the woods, as we still need Albany and Washington, DC to play their roles in providing New Yorkers with additional support,” Adams said, praising his administration for maintaining the city’s bond rating during the migrant crisis.
Adams’ announcement — in a pre-taped interview aired on WABC-TV and a press release — was a stark contrast to the multi-day media tour last month when his administration slowly restored a handful of controversial budget cuts, including of the NYPD’s final recruit class this year and to FDNY staffing.
At the same time, the spending reductions already on the books for this year and next, including the cancellation of fiscal year 2025’s four police academy classes, have not been reversed.
The NYPD is still expected to see its headcount dwindle by a few thousand, bringing its uniformed force below 30,000 for the first time since the 1990s as part of the cuts.
The Adams administration has been at odds with the City Council for months over the steep reductions in city spending to cover the migrant crisis, with the mayor saying lawmakers were being “too liberal” with revenue projections.
However, when Adams and his budget director Jacques Jiha rolled out their $109.4 billion budget plan last month, the city’s revenue surpassed the council’s projections.
