New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed a $99.7 billion budget on Tuesday, pitching a pandemic recovery without the tens of billions of dollars from Covid stimulus funds that padded previous spending plans.
Adams is betting he can squeeze more efficiency out of city government in his first budget, with his eye on cutting administrative costs to fund public safety and social programs. The plan offers a glimpse into what the future will look like for New York City without a massive infusion of federal stimulus money. Adams also said he expects record Wall Street profits and bonuses to decline and that record-high vacancies have weakened the commercial office market.
“Every New Yorker knew that our city would come back. It’s already happening,” Adams said in a budget address at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, a 3,000-seat venue where the mayor was supposed to hold his inauguration before it got canceled due to Covid. “We are still in a time of profound concern and this city is prepared to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy no matter what the future brings.”
The budget address — usually delivered in the Blue Room at New York’s City Hall — was accompanied by the pomp and circumstance that is usually reserved for inaugurations and other higher-profile events. There were prayers from multiple religious officials, the singing of the National Anthem and the Black National Anthem, and an autobiographical video introducing the mayor that aired before he took the stage to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
The executive budget represents a $1.2 billion increase from preliminary plans unveiled in February when Adams proclaimed that fiscal discipline would be the “hallmark of my administration.” After taking office, Adams asked city agencies to cut spending by 3%.
It allocates $256 million to public safety, including resources for subway safety, homelessness, and a dedicated gun crime unit in the city’s medical examiner’s office. It also includes $285 million for education and career development, $51 million to fight food insecurity, and $10 million for immigrant support. The budget calls for $118 million to clean and maintain parks and other public spaces, restore controversial parking rules that were suspended during the pandemic, and launch a pilot program to add sealed garbage baskets.
The fiscal 2023 spending plan, which would take effect July 1, now moves to the City Council for approval. Many of the council’s members were elected on far more progressive promises than the mayor and Monday revealed plans for $1.3 billion in additional spending.
Spending Hike
Adams, 61, is pitching a larger spending plan than his predecessor Mayor Bill de Blasio, who oversaw a massive expansion of city government during his two terms and whose last executive budget proposal was $98.6 billion. That budget climbed to $102.8 billion by November, according to a press release, plumped up with pandemic aid. New York City got roughly $30 billion in Covid stimulus funds and other state and federal aid.
Adams said he was able to find savings of $411 million over fiscal 2022 and 2023. He is projecting deficits of $3.9 billion in 2024, $3.4 billion for 2025, and $3.7 billion in fiscal 2026, and has $6.3 billion in the city’s reserves. Tax revenues for 2023 have also been revised by $392 million as a result of a growth in property tax collection.
Economic Malaise
While unemployment has abated in other cities, including nearby Long Island and parts of Northern New Jersey, New York City is dealing with a March unemployment rate of 6.5%, compared to 3.6% across the U.S.
Since January, the city has been adding jobs at a faster pace than the nation, according to Adams’s office. Hotel demand is at 86% of pre-pandemic levels, up from 63% in January. Still, Adams doesn’t expect a complete jobs recovery until 2024.
Subway ridership has stagnated at around 60% of pre-pandemic levels and has been hit by service delays, worker shortages, and commuters who say they fear an increase in transit crime.
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Adams has pledged to keep spending flat for the New York City Police Department. Adams, a former cop, made public safety a core tenet of his campaign in the face of an increase in shootings and subway incidents. That’s continued throughout the first months of his administration, with high-profile incidents including the fatal shooting of two young police officers in Harlem and a mass shooting on the city’s subway this month that left 23 people injured, including 10 from gunshot wounds.
“People are asking what your police department is doing. We’ve removed 2,300 illegal guns off the street,” Adams said in his speech. “When you hear people say we don’t need our police, let me tell you right now, I will support our police.”
The mayor has already started to make changes to the police force, including a push to more aggressively go after low-level infractions, more visible patrols in the subway system, and the revival of a plainclothes policing unit that was disbanded for misconduct. He said he believes he can continue to implement changes with the current 35,000 police officers on the payroll.
