Adams leaves little room for financial error in New York City budget
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has proposed a substantial $115 billion budget, which includes increased spending to support education and various social initiatives. The budget aims to address criticisms faced in previous years regarding cuts to educational funding and other social programs. Emphasizing that this could be the “best budget ever,” Adams highlighted investments in crime reduction, affordable housing, and child care.however, the budget has drawn skepticism from critics, including City Comptroller Brad Lander, who described it as unrealistic due to its lack of reserves and reliance on uncertain federal funding, notably during challenging economic conditions.The budget formula appears to be politically motivated as Adams faces declining approval ratings and intends to boost his reelection campaign. Several city officials have expressed concerns about the financial implications of the budget and the potential impacts of federal funding cuts initiated by the Trump management.
Adams leaves little room for financial error in New York City’s ‘Best Budget Ever’
New York City Mayor Eric Adams increased spending in the city’s newly proposed $115 billion budget, leaving little wiggle room for economic or federal funding uncertainty.
The budget increases funds for education, a boon for Adams’s reelection campaign, as he drew considerable criticism in past years for cutting funding to various related programs.
It comes as the Trump administration has ripped federal funding away from the city and is poised to target more. If it does, the city will have little choice but to enact cuts. The budget also doesn’t leave much room for economic challenges, as the administration has doled out tariffs worldwide, creating uncertainty in the stock market.
But Adams is optimistic that it will be the “best budget ever” and will boost the city’s hopes of funding initiatives directed at crime, education, and affordable housing.
“This budget is a testament to our commitment to making New York City safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family,” Adams said at his high school alma mater in Queens on Thursday.
“From prioritizing access to child care and launching ‘After-School for All’ to investing in permanent funding for libraries, [the City University of New York], and our world-class institutions that make New York City what it is, to tackling quality-of-life issues and making our streets safer, the $1.4 billion we’re investing to protect and lift up critical programs will make lives better for families across all five boroughs,” he added.
“We are doing all of this while maintaining record-high reserves to help us face anything that comes our way,” he noted. “And, with the city’s largest 10-year capital plan at $173 billion, we are delivering on infrastructure improvements and transformative generational projects that were talked about for decades but never achieved. This is the budget my mom needed, that my family needed, and, with it, we’re saying to working families: your city has your back.”
Adams’s budget immediately drew criticism from multiple city mayoral candidates and other state officials. City Comptroller Brad Lander described it as a “fantasyland.”
“By refusing to put more money into reserves and prepare for the reality we are facing, Adams is once again failing to protect New Yorkers,” Lander said in a statement.
Democratic State Sen. Zellnor Myrie added, “New Yorkers need free, universal after-school for every kid, not Eric Adams’s watered-down, rip-off of my policy.”
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is challenging the mayor in the election, did not criticize the incumbent for not setting aside money, instead calling it a “better start” than other years.
“While we must remain vigilant and prepared for the chaos and threats from the Trump administration, we cannot do it at the expense of the essential investments in our city and services for New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.
The mayor’s heavy spending could be viewed as a last-ditch effort to improve his approval ratings and reelection hopes in the face of rock-bottom favorability from New York City residents. Many disapproved of his association with Trump or his criminal corruption case. Adams decided to run as an independent in the mayoral race, ditching his Democratic label to avoid a crowded primary currently led by former state Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The city will rely on federal funding for 6% of its budget, which has troubled high-ranking New York state officials.
“In addition to rising recession risk, the city has not changed its assumptions for the receipt of federal funding to reflect the potential impact of recent federal actions, as many of these actions are litigated, leaving it vulnerable to choices made in Washington,” Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York state comptroller, said. “New York City needs to face the current fiscal reality: uncertainty in the economy, federal funding policy shifts, and a possible increase in costs.”
Trump administration officials notified New York City that it would cut $188 million in federal funding for migrants and $325 million in disaster relief grants last month. Adams slammed the federal government over the move, blaming Congress and President Donald Trump’s predecessors for creating the illegal immigration crisis.
“As I have repeatedly said, New York City did not create this crisis — it was caused by decades of federal inaction and failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Adams said.
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Andrew Rein, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission, offered a more scathing assessment of Adams’s budget.
“Putting your head in the sand doesn’t protect your neck,” he told the New York Times.
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