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Amid growing investigations by the FBI and the Manhattan DA into corruption in his administration, Mayor Eric Adams is proposing 5% across-the-board budget cuts, despite the City holding $9 billion in reserves and skepticism about the Mayor’s claims about the total fiscal impact of asylum seeker support. The Mayor’s budget cuts are unacceptable for a city that is home to the most billionaires in the world–a group whose wealth has grown astronomically during the pandemic.

If not blocked by the City Council, this will be the fifth round of cuts enacted by the Mayor. Performance and Management Reports released in September show that essential services are already downgraded; from fire and emergency response to SNAP and housing assistance. The new cuts are reported to eliminate CUNY support programs, early education seats, Sunday library hours, critical city jobs initiatives in the parks and sanitation departments, and immigrant services, among many other programs.

We have a mayor-in-crisis, not a fiscal crisis. Governmental and independent budget watchdogs have pointed to a number of strategies for managing the city’s fiscal issues without requiring such severe cuts, including curtailing uniformed overtime, undoing the hiring freeze at revenue generating agencies, better planning and spending on humanely support newly arriving immigrants, and using some of the city’s $9B reserve fund. In addition, the Independent Budget Office (IBO) reported that the administration had overstated asylum-seeker costs by up to $1.6B dollars, and the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) has stated that the Mayor has “significantly overstates the fiscal impact of migrant arrivals,” naming that proposed budget cuts of $10 billion per year are “billions of dollars higher than the increased cost estimates for asylum seekers.”

Meanwhile, NYPD and DOC are escaping the brunt of the Mayor's cuts once again, with the Mayor committing that these agencies will not be subject to the next round of cuts come December, and the Governor promising to fund future academy classes that were postponed or cut in the NYPD.

All New Yorkers should have access to housing, livelihood, and resources to thrive. New Yorkers in every city council district use our city’s vital public resources, from libraries to parks to schools to arts programs to elder care and workforce development. But these resources are under attack from a mayor determined to cut corners and slash essential services. In the long run, divesting from these necessities will make NYC a less safe, stable, healthy, and desirable place to live. We need investments in programs and services that directly care for New Yorkers in need, not cuts.

The mayor and the council need to hear from New Yorkers like you! Fill in your return address in the form on the right and click ‘Start Writing’ to get started.