In a hours-long City Council hearing on Monday, lawmakers questioned the city's budget director about the reasoning behind a recent 5% budget cut.
The cuts affect city agencies and services, from the Department of Education to libraries to composting to Rikers Island.
“Any small cut to the already small library budget will be immediately felt by New Yorkers. So I want to ask, what is the administration’s rationale behind this particular peg?” Brooklyn City Councilmember Chi Osse.
What You Need To Know
- In a hearing that lasted several hours on Monday, local lawmakers questioned and examined the city's recent budget cuts
- Last month, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled citywide budget cuts across all agencies, including the fire and police departments
- Adams says the cuts are necessary to help fil a $7 billion budget gap that has been exacerbated by the the influx of migrants arriving in the five boroughs
- Lawmakers argue the administration had financial issues before the crisis began and needs to be more considerate about reductions
Mayor Eric Adams and his top officials have squarely blamed the budget cuts on the growing costs to house and feed thousands of migrants.
The city says the influx of migrants arriving in the five boroughs will cost the city $12 billion over the next three years. But lawmakers pushed back.
“I think it’s fair to say that it's in all of our minds, and that’s why we’re here, trying to work with you to come up with other solutions,” Brooklyn City Councilmember Crystal Hudson said.
Local lawmakers have argued the administration faced financial issues way before the migrant crisis even began due to the conclusion of COVID-19 stimulus dollars.
“[City] Council has warned before that the funding of permanent city services with temporary, time-limited COVID-19 relief funds was problematic,” Brooklyn City Councilmember Justin Brannan said.
Jacques Jiha, the city's budget director, acknowledged the crisis is just part of the problem.
“We had a budget gap before the migrant crisis,” Jiha said. “The migrant is a driver of what goes above and beyond the historic norm.”
One heated exchange came when Jiha was asked about the cutting of the Parks Opportunity Program, a job training program for New Yorkers on public benefits.
“[The Department of Social Services] decided that this is not a program that leads to long-term jobs for folks,” Jiha said.
Jiha emphasized at the hearing multiple times that many cuts were affecting programs being underutilized, or were impacting programs cut by departments themselves.
“We don’t tell them what to cut. We just gave them a subsidy. They used the funding how they see fit and they made their choices. They could had made different choices,” Jiha said.
Lawmakers warned Monday that the cuts need more consideration.
“We have to understand the city of New York. We have to hold it together,” Brooklyn City Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse said.
The City Council can approve or deny the budget cuts. However, the mayor gets the final decision on the reductions.