NYC Mayor Eric Adams spares NYPD, FDNY and sanitation from latest round of migrant cuts

The NYPD, FDNY and Sanitation Department will be spared further funding cuts meant to cover the cost of the city’s migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday — as he unveiled his $109.4 billion budget plan.

The mayor backed off the second round of 5% widespread budget cuts promised for this month, saying the city had reaped an unexpected windfall of $3.7 billion in tax revenue and had a better handle on the asylum-seeker mess.

The next round of budget slashes set for April could also be on the cutting block thanks to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $2.4 billion allotment in migrant cash for the city.

“If we receive sufficient funding from the state, we will be able to cancel the April pay savings program and avoid the possibility of service reductions in the future,” Adams said.

He did not say how much funding from the state would be “sufficient.”

The second round of deep funding cuts that had been anticipated for Tuesday were set to be a stark reminder of the about $10 billion the city has said it will shell out in migrant costs.

Instead, city officials announced the cuts were down to 1.5% overall at the Department of Youth and Community Development, Social Services, Homeless Services and Department of Education.

The NYPD will see a nearly $120 million bump in the next fiscal year from what its budget looked like it would be in November, when the first round of 5% cuts were made.

The overall budget for the Police Department is still expected to come in at $50 million less than last year’s adopted budget of $5.8 billion. But the NYPD is set to go over budget for 2024 by $500 million.

The total overall budget for the 2024 fiscal year was $107 billion.

The Fire Department will see an additional $226 million in funding, bringing its budget to $2.5 billion for FY2025, city figures show.

“Let’s be clear, we balanced the budget without unduly burdening New York with tax hikes or massive service reductions and without laying off a single city” worker, Adams said from City Hall.

“But we’re not out of the woods,” he added. “While we have stabilized our fiscal picture and put New York City on the right track, to keep moving forward we still need help in the federal and state governments.”

Adams’ budget director Jacques Jiha said his office was reviewing Hochul’s executive budget proposal unveiled just hours earlier, noting that the city only accounted for $1.5 billion in migrant funding for the state for next fiscal year.

The extra influx from the state could lead to more reversals of city budget cuts made in November — including the cancelation of four Police Academy classes — after the mayor rolled back several of the slashes last week.

“The mere fact we have to use the term rollbacks shows that we never wanted to do any of these cuts in the first place,” Adams said.

The positive budget outlook was welcomed by members of the City Council, who have been at odds of late with the administration, arguing their projections greatly underestimated the revenue.

Adams had shot back that the Council’s projections were “too liberal.”

“Look, I’d be lying if I said it’s not gratifying,” City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) said, taking a small victory lap in City Hall after the budget unveiling.

“This is something we’ve been saying since day one,” he added.

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks and Aneeta Bhole