Mayor Adams said Tuesday he’s open to rolling back some of the budget cuts unveiled in his administration’s most recent financial plan — as long as the reversals are reasonable and “make sense.”
His remarks came a day after the City Council held a marathon budget hearing pushing back on austere cost-saving measures that he and his team outlined in their budget modification proposal last month.
“No one at this table enjoys making these efficiencies that we have to do. We have a $7 billion budget deficit,” said Adams, who was flanked by his top advisers at the Tuesday afternoon press briefing. “I must have an answer to a $7 billion deficit. And if people got suggestions on how we can do it without having to do these cuts, trust me, I’m open to that.”
The extreme fiscal hardship faced by the city is a result of several factors, including $12 billion in expected spending on the migrant crisis by mid-2025, new contractual obligations and permanent programs that had previously been paid for with temporary revenue streams.
But members of the City Council have argued that the deficit is not as bad as the Adams administration has characterized it. Economists from the lawmaking body projected in a report released over the weekend forecasting $1.2 billion in additional revenue that the mayor’s office did not account for this year.
Adams’ top budget adviser Jacques Jiha said Tuesday that even if that were the case, the city would still be more than $5 billion in the hole and would still be required by law to balance its budget.
As he’s done in the past when it comes to the city’s fiscal situation, Adams tagged the Council with being big on rhetorical flourishes and short on solutions.
“Their answer is ‘Let’s just complain about what the administration is doing.’ I’m not afforded that,” he said, adding that he’s open to suggestions — as long as they’re reasonable.
“They have to be very clear, very specific — and it has to make sense,” he continued. “When people tell me, ‘Ok, Eric, just cut the police department by 60%’ — I mean, that’s not logical.”
Adams did not say who the people he was referring to are. And his spokespeople did not immediately respond when posed with that question.
“No one ever said that to our recollection,” Council spokesman Mandela Jones said. “There are multiple specific alternatives to take in managing budget challenges besides relying on broad cuts to agencies and essential services, and the Council has already put forward several and will continue to do so.”
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan wrote in a recent op-ed that the city should “evaluate tax breaks for their effectiveness and seek out uncollected fines and fees.”
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December 13, 2023 at 02:11AM
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Adams 'open' to rolling back some budget cuts -- as long as they 'make sense' - New York Daily News
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