Mayor Adams’ Budget Cuts Continue To Threaten City Services And Affordability In NYC

By The People’s Plan NYC

Photos: The People’s Plan\YouTube Screenshots

January 16, 2024 —  The People’s Plan and its steering committee organizations release the following initial analysis and statements regarding Mayor Eric Adams’ FY26 preliminary budget (based on available information). 

Analysis on FY26 preliminary budget based on available documents: 

  • The budget does not include restorations to early childhood education, and maintains and further cuts the city’s preschool program for four- and three-year-olds 
  • No restorations to parks’s previous rounds of cuts 
  • No restorations to CUNY’s previous rounds of cuts
  • No commitment to funding to core education programs like summer rising and restorative justice that were given one year-funding last year

Mayor Adams may want to pretend that his latest budget is benign, but the cumulative effects of the Mayor’s budgets have taken a toll on city services and New Yorkers. New Yorkers continue to struggle to get 3K and childcare seats, CUNY still faces huge holes in its administrative budget, impacting courseload and services for students, and parks maintenance continues to decline. Performance and Management Reports released in September 2024 show that essential services are already downgraded; from fire and emergency response to meal delivery to seniors to SNAP and housing assistance. These services are all casualties of Mayor Adams’ budget and management decisions, which hurt ordinary New Yorkers and make it harder for people to be able to afford to live, stay, and thrive in New York City.

Our People’s Budget campaign for 2025 will be aimed in fighting for a restoration to these services and investments in services, resources, and programs that keep New Yorkers safe, address affordability, and provide care across generations. 

“Mayor Adams may be feigning a better budget due to political pressures but we won’t forget the several rounds of cuts Eric put us through in the last three years. There are no major restorations in this budget to services like childcare, CUNY, and parks that so many New Yorkers rely on. With budget cuts, rent increases, and pay-to-play corruption scandals, the only constant under this administration is that the needs of poor and working class New Yorkers will always take a back seat to the interests of Mayor Adams’ big donors.”

Zara Nasir, Executive Director of The People’s Plan (TPP) and People’s Budget campaign

“Most of us, no matter our race or religion, where we come from, or how long we’ve been here, want to live in a safer New York City. But Mayor Adams has not made our city safer. He’s hired more cops to lock more people up, shielded abusive officers from any consequences, and expanded the NYPD’s control over city government – all while making enormous cuts to the city’s social safety net and pointing the finger for our hard times at poor families and new immigrants. The state of Mayor Adams’s New York is corruption, chaos, and cruelty. New Yorkers don’t just deserve better — we demand better.” 

— Audrey Sasson, Executive Director, Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ)

“We won’t forget the last three years under Eric Adams. In three years, Eric Adams has delivered budget cuts to essential services while handing millions to his real estate friends. He has raised rents on rent-regulated apartments, fought to close libraries on weekends, and slashed the parks budget. New Yorkers are still living with the consequences of Eric Adams’ actions. And actions speak louder than speeches—New York City needs a leader, and Eric Adams isn’t it.”

James Inniss, Senior Public Safety Campaigner at New York Communities for Change

“Year after year, we’ve seen the same playbook from the mayor: He guts essentials like schools and libraries and when New Yorkers make it clear we won’t stand for it, Adams restores some of his cuts and plays the hero. Adams seems more interested in using his position to benefit himself and his friends and family. Instead, we need a mayor who will prioritize New Yorkers by funding public services like education, housing, and mental health services.” 

— Kaiser (Brittany Kaiser) Community Organizer, Alliance for Quality Education (AQE)

“It’s a new year but the same old story from Mayor Eric Adams: underfunding for CUNY.  The Mayor painted a rosy financial picture in his Preliminary Budget announcement for FY26, but failed to acknowledge that one of the agencies with the best returns on its investment deserves to have its funding restored. Over $95 million has been cut from the CUNY budget during this administration and hundreds of faculty and staff positions at community colleges have been lost. Enrollment is up at CUNY for the second straight year. To make our economy grow and live up to the Mayor’s promise to make New York City ‘the best place to raise a family’ the city needs a fully funded CUNY. We look forward to working with CUNY champions this budget season to ensure community colleges are fully funded in the Mayor’s final budget.”

– Jen Gaboury, First Vice President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY

Governmental and independent budget watchdogs have pointed to a number of strategies for managing the city’s fiscal issues without requiring severe cuts, including curtailing wasteful NYPD and uniformed overtime, which continues to balloon under Eric Adams’ administration, undoing the hiring freeze at revenue generating agencies, and using some of the city’s $9B reserve fund. Despite these alternatives, Mayor Adams continues to scapegoat new arrivals, overemphasizing the cost of support for asylum seekers despite counteranalysis from the Independent Budget Office and Fiscal Policy Institute.

The Mayor’s preliminary budget comes at a time of growing investigations by the FBI and the Manhattan DA into pay-to-play practices and corruption in the Adams administration, including misuse of public matching funds, and a record low public approval rating. New Yorkers need real leadership from city hall – not the chaos Mayor Adams has caused by his management and budget decisions.