Mayor returns to Queens to unveil budget proposal
/By Jacob Kaye
New York City Mayor Eric Adams returned to his alma mater in Queens on Thursday to unveil the final budget proposal of his term.
While the $115.1 billion fiscal plan mostly lacked any new, major proposals, it broke from the mayor’s past proposals by providing baseline funding for a number of programs and city services supported by the City Council, many of which have seen cuts under some of the mayor’s austerity budgets through the years.
The mayor proposed boosting funding to the city’s libraries and alternative to incarceration programs, both of which saw their funds dwindle during the first three years of the Adams administration. He also proposed increases to early childhood education, afterschool programming and the City University of New York.
Adams, who dubbed his plan the “best budget ever,” said from Bayside High School on Thursday that the proposal was centered around getting funding to a number of services and programs year after year, and not just scrounging for the cash each budget cycle.
Around $675 million was proposed for baseline funding for various programs. The mayor also earmarked around $1.4 billion for programs that were not funded for the coming year, some of which were originally backed by stimulus dollars that are soon expiring.
The mayor, who was raised in Southeast Queens but bused to the Northeastern Queens high school as a teen, said it was important for him to deliver his budget address from the school where he struggled both as a personal marker but also because of the audience there.
“I wanted to deliver [my budget address] in a place that you will soon be able to feel the impacts of our investments,” the mayor said on Thursday. “No one will feel the impact more than our students because this is the best budget ever for our families and young people.”
The executive budget proposal went over without much controversy on Thursday.
Its biggest knock came from critics who claimed the plan included few measures to account for continued cuts to the city’s federal funding threatened by the Trump administration, which Adams has been accused of aligning himself with.
The mayor only briefly mentioned the president toward the end of his address on Thursday, noting that City Hall predicts “uncertainty on the horizon.”
“We will closely monitor the impact of the federal administration's action in our national, state and local economies, and we are ready to stand up to make sure New Yorkers get every dollar they deserve,” the mayor said. “Rest assured, we will stay true to the strong fiscal management that has guided our administration and ensure that New York remains the safest big city in America, the best place to raise a family.”
But while some, including several of his mayoral challengers, said that they felt his budget didn’t go far enough to protect from Trump’s potential cuts, his main negotiating partner, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, didn’t appear too concerned.
“I think that the budget right now is good, but we can never be too certain about what is coming around the corner with this Trump administration,” said the speaker, the mayor’s fellow Bayside High School alum who is also running for the mayor’s office. “I would caution all of us really against getting too comfortable with anything that we may feel is perfect. The budget is not perfect but it is okay right now, and we are still working on how to make it even better.”
The speaker, who did not attend the mayor’s budget announcement, had only one gripe with the budget – similar funding commitments hadn’t been made by the administration in years prior.
“Year after year, the Council has continued to fight for these priorities, which we now see are actually a part of this budget that we should have seen quite a long time ago,” Speaker Adams said. “This is a good start.”
The sentiment was echoed by Councilmember Justin Brannan, who chairs the Council’s finance committee.
“It's encouraging to see that finally, City Hall is answering after three and a half years of fighting to see our priorities reflected in their executive budget proposals,” Brannan said. “It's great to see but it shouldn't have taken this long.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a major critic of the mayor, also celebrated the budget, while lamenting the fact similar budgets were proposed by Adams before the last year of his first term.
"Baselining funding for key services is great – and I’m glad that the mayor is finally trying to meet the baseline standard for responsible governance, in the final months of his term,” Williams said. “At the same time, this mayor has made cuts for years, using dishonest math and disingenuous framing. Correcting some of those cuts now doesn’t make up for years that New Yorkers will remember forever.”
Among the services that Adams previously cut that he is now proposing to increase were alternative to incarceration programs.
The budget proposal included $7.6 million in baselined funding for case management programs, substance abuse programming, group counseling, housing placement assistance, health care and other services for New Yorkers charged with a crime.
It also included $6.5 million in baselined funding for nonprofits that provide re-entry services, indigent defense, supervised release and other criminal justice programming. Early in his term, Adams ordered the cut of a $17 million contract that went to nonprofits that provided similar services. His administration in recent months proposed putting $14 million back into the programs.
The unveiling of the budget kicks off a two-month negotiation period, which will end July 1, when the budget is due and the new fiscal year begins.
