This year’s budget handshake was terse, awkward and a far cry from the budget hug of last year.

It reflected the tense nature of the negotiations.

Where Mayor Eric Adams wanted austerity, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams wanted resources.

And on Thursday, they announced a deal for a $107 billion city budget for the fiscal year that begins on Saturday.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Adams wants a more austere budget in light of labor union contracts and migrant crisis costs

  • Speaker Adams wants funding for services including education and criminal justice

  • Funding for programs impacting homelessness and Rikers Island detainees was cut

“This is a primarily a restorative budget,” Adrienne Adams said at a City Hall news conference alongside the mayor. “We would have preferred for it not to have been a restorative budget.”

Councilmembers said they reversed proposed cuts restoring $36 million to libraries, $22 million to litter basket collection, $40 million to cultural institutions, $33 million to the NYCHA vacant unit readiness program, $32 million to CUNY programs and more.

The mayor and council also came to an agreement on nearly $37 million for expanded supervised released and a pilot program to reduce recidivism, nearly $10 million for highway cleaning, nearly $37 million for the Right to Counsel program, an addition $20 million for Fair Fares and $15 million to convert vacant early childhood seats to extended day ones.

“Money that is coming in must match the money that is going out,” the mayor said.

Adams emphasized the city maintains its near-record $8 billion in reserves.

He sought to exercise fiscal restraint amid the cost of labor union contracts and the drying up of federal COVID funds.

He noted that what the administration spent this fiscal year on caring for migrants could have gone elsewhere.

“I just think it’s unfair that $1.4 billion that could have gone into some of the priorities that we all share,” he said.

The elected leaders were more reticent about detailing which programs saw funding cuts.

They included 3-K, home-delivery meals and criminal justice and prisoner re-entry programs.

The speaker did say, “Priorities of ours remained unaddressed in this budget related to public safety, which we will continue to fight for as a council. We cannot afford to withhold investments that are proven to break cycles of trauma.”

The Citizens Budget Commission said of the fiscal year 2024 plan, “It is essentially a one-year budget that again unfortunately delays the wise but hard choices needed to stabilize the city’s fiscal future.”

Though the city had higher than expected revenues, the budget out-year gaps are wider.

The City Council is expected to vote on the budget proposal on Friday.