NEW YORK (PIX11) — Mayor Eric Adams has told New York City agencies to prepare for deep budget cuts that will greatly impact everyday life in the city.
He pointed to the cost of the migrant crisis as the reason. As part of the effort, the city will impose a hiring freeze and aim to restrict overtime.
Last fiscal year, New York City paid out $2.4 billion in overtime, most of which went to uniformed city workers like NYPD officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, and correction officers. However, it’s not just tackling overtime like the money used recently to do extra garbage pickup.
The city is spending around $107 billion this fiscal year. Adams said each city agency must come up with a plan for 5% cuts by November with two more rounds of cuts for a total of 15% by next spring.
During his appearance on PIX on Politics on Sunday, the mayor laid the blame largely on footing the bill to care for more than 110,000 migrants — without much federal support. His office projects a $12 billion hole in the budget during the next three years.
“I have to be honest to New Yorkers about what we are up against,” Adams said. “Everything is on the table.”
The hardest hit may be city schools, which currently get more than $37 billion a year.
“We have already had to combine classrooms, there’s a shortage of teachers, we’ve had to pivot last minute – kids are not going to get the same attention that they did before. There’s a very large number of students in each class,” said one parent at PS 9 in Brooklyn.
There are also other factors aside from the migrants weighing on the city budget. There is a “fiscal cliff” of expiring COVID-19 aid from the federal government. The Adams administration has also signed new agreements with most of the city’s unions, and they all include pay raises.
