New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced this week that his upcoming city budget would likely include steep cuts. The news comes after New York struggled with the influx of more than 100,000 migrants since last year and implemented a number of reductions in spending for various public programs.
Adams made the announcement during a press briefing, stating that the city is forced to slash its budget due to the ongoing cost of sheltering migrants.
“In all my time in government, this is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through,” he said.
The changes to the budget are taking place as part of a budget update. The full plan is expected to be released on Thursday.
Adams specifically cited the effects the budget cuts would have on the New York Police Department (NYPD). The mayor, a former officer, implied that the cuts could affect the mission of the department. He said that the cuts would be “extremely painful for New Yorkers.”
BREAKING: Mayor Adams warns of ‘extremely painful for New Yorkers’ upcoming spending cuts in NYC budget.
Adams offered the dire warning that he forced to enact the deep cuts to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in cost incurred from sheltering and providing services for the… pic.twitter.com/giY6fIVrYd
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) November 14, 2023
During the same press conference, the Adams administration announced that it would be halting new academy classes for the NYPD for the foreseeable future.
In addition, the city plans to cut the budget of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), including all overtime, training sessions and other units.
The city also announced in October that it would not train 250 school safety agents due to the ongoing budget crisis.
“We have to do a real evaluation on where do we have the high-need schools, we’re going to be leaning into parents and parent groups to do some volunteerism,” the mayor said.
“And that’s why we continue to say we need help,” he said.
Both New York City and state governments have requested federal aid to help offset the increasing costs of the migrant crisis.
The cuts follow a September announcement that the city government would cut 5% from all city agencies. The mayor said then that the cut would likely be followed by several other reductions in spending.
