NEW YORK CITY — Prepare for more budget whiplash, New Yorkers.
Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a $109.8 billion preliminary budget Tuesday for the upcoming year that he said won’t include dire major cuts to services he has been warning of — and often reversing — for months.
Libraries — which had to halt Sunday service — will be fully exempt from added service reductions in the 2025, Adams said. Schools, social services, youth and community development and the city’s Department for the Aging will be partially exempted, he said.
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“We made these adjustments because we know these are the services that are important to New York,” he said.
The city’s finances are stronger than City Hall officials anticipated thanks to plannings, savings and unexpected strength in the economy, Adams said. He said the city also managed to save $1.7 billion on asylum seeker costs.
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All that allowed the city to close a $7.1 billion budget gap, Adams said.
But the details weren’t exactly reassuring to many elected officials who have been critical of Adams’ budget math since he announced drastic mid-year cuts in November. They noted the city’s tax revenues are $2.9 billion than anticipated in November.
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“Let’s be clear: restoring key services in this budget is vital, though it does not undo the several previous rounds of cuts, or the damage done,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, in a statement.
“This restoration isn’t the result of solid budgeting, but misleading math — single-handedly slashing services based on inaccurate projections, then reversing them.”
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