NEW YORK (PIX11) — The Mayor’s office is set to announce “painful” budget cuts Thursday that will impact every aspect of city life from public safety to social services.
All of this is due to billions being spent on the migrant crisis, and expiring aid from the federal government.
Sources say NYPD will freeze recruiting as part of this round of budget cuts, a freeze that is also being reported by the Daily News and New York Post.
The Mayor also suggested parents may need to step up to volunteer at their schools more.
“It’s really gonna have a huge impact on folks are already at the bottom of the ladder,” said Emily Goldstein.
She helps people just barely getting by through her nonprofit work with the Association for Neighborhood Housing Development. Goldstein hopes that if five % cuts must be made, the conversation will move beyond the basics of just making sure the garbage is picked up.
“That looks like really prioritizing putting funding towards programs that prevent evictions, that fund vouchers, that are providing housing stability for folks who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless,” she said.
Tuesday Mayor Eric Adams signaled the cuts would be painful, particularly in the way the city supports organizations lifting vulnerable New Yorkers.
However, with the federal government refusing to pick up the multi-billion dollar tab of the migrant crisis, the cuts are coming.
PIX11 caught up with several high-ranking council members who will push back on the Mayor’s proposed cuts including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. She was at an event cheering the pending passage of her plan to encourage more affordable housing.
“The finance of New York City is always a concern,” Speaker Adams said. “We are going to have to prioritize the needs of New Yorkers, or there will be no grand New York to be proud of plain and simple.”
Other Council Members said, in general, that means tipping the scales to protect crucial food and housing programs even if that means difficult decisions.
Mayor Adams and his team will roll out the full list of proposed budget cuts on Thursday, which need to be approved by the Council.
There is another round of five % of cuts coming if nothing changes.
