New York City passes $115.9B Budget with boosts for migrants, childcare ahead of Mayor Eric Adams' re-election bid
The spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1, which the City Council approved on Monday, is the final one in Adams' first term. The budget is more than $3 billion larger than the $112 billion spending plan the city approved last year, and it comes as the mayor, who was elected as a Democrat, is seeking reelection as an independent in November.
While Adams' previous budgets had been marked by dire predictions for the city's future — and what some critics decried as overly conservative revenue forecasts — the new plan adds funding for city services that the mayor had previously targeted for freezes or cuts.
It passed unanimously— a rare moment of concord between the mayor and Council in a relationship that has mostly been acrimonious in previous years' budget negotiations. Adams branded the spending plan as the 'best budget ever' earlier this year.
The plan adds roughly $50 million for legal services for immigrants, and will pay for a $10 million pilot program to provide free childcare for children ages 2 and under. It also fully funds the city's childcare program for 3-year-olds.
The new funding represents a starkly different tack by Adams. Two years ago, he implemented unpopular cuts in response to the costly influx of thousands of migrants, which he estimated would cost the city billions of dollars. He slashed service hours at some libraries in response to the migrant crisis, cuts he partially restored last year after migrant arrivals slowed and costs sharply declined. The new budget adds seven-day service at 10 more city libraries, with locations to be announced at a future date.
Some fiscal watchdogs criticized the new budget, which comes as the city faces potential funding threats from President Donald Trump's administration. The new plan is 'unaffordable' and 'unprepared for federal cuts,' said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group.
The Trump administration has already paused or terminated nearly $400 million in federal grants the city received in the current fiscal year, and $134.5 million in funding for the next one, according to an analysis from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office.
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