Days after proclaiming the migrant crisis would destroy New York City, Mayor Eric Adams told agency heads they may have to slash their budgets by an unprecedented 15% by next spring to compensate for increasing costs stemming from the asylum seekers.
In a Saturday morning meeting with commissioners and budget officials, Adams indicated each agency will need to slice 5% from their spending by the time the Office of Management and Budget releases its next fiscal update in November. Commissioners will then be on the hook for a matching reduction in the first month of the new year, which is when the preliminary budget plan comes out. A third round of cuts will come once the spring budget update is released in April.
Adams also said that the cuts do not include layoffs, but his plan includes a hiring freeze, which was confirmed by certain sources to POLITICO but was not officially announced.
“The simple truth is that longtime New Yorkers and asylum-seekers will feel these potential cuts — and they will hurt,” Adams said in a prepared speech that coincided with a City Hall press release came out on Saturday. “New Yorkers are angry and frustrated, and they’re right to be. I am too.”
