Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council are expected to be locked in a tense budget battle going into the new year.

The mayor slashed spending across all city agencies by 5% in November, with two more rounds expected in 2024.

Adams maintains the city is facing a $7 billion fiscal cliff in the next budget cycle due, he says, to the ballooning costs to house and feed asylum seekers.

“What the problem is, the problem is that this is costing us $5 billion this year, $7 billion the next two years, $12 billion,” said Adams on Thursday at an unrelated event.

But local lawmakers are pushing back against the mayor’s math.

“What [the Office of Management and Budget] comes up with isn’t the end all be all. They don’t have final authority on the state of the economy,” said Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan.  

Brannan, the finance chair, said the City Council is ready to fight for their priorities and not let the mayor push through his reductions.

The recent round of budget cuts affected everything from education to the libraries to the fire and police departments.

“Heading into January, we’re going to take a very aggressive posture there,” said Brannan.

The City Council and the mayor must agree on a final budget by June.

Brannan noted that the budget cuts were a reversal of the last adopted budget.

“It certainly wasn’t lost on this council that some of the things that appeared back on the chopping block were the very things we shook on six months ago,” he said. “I think there’s been some broken promises here.”

Though there is some dispute over the size of the fiscal cliff, financial experts all agree there is a gap that needs to be closed.

“No matter how you slice it, we are probably facing a budget gap of $6 billion and it could even be higher, if the mayor estimates are right,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog group. “We have to get there legally. It’s what the mayor is elected to do. It’s what the mayor is legally obligated to do, and it’s what’s right for the future of New Yorkers.”

Rein added that there are efficiencies that could be saving the city millions, particularly when it comes to labor unions.

“Right now we have over 100 different welfare benefit funds for different locals,” said Rein about possible solutions to the budget gap. “If we combine those purchasing powers and the streamline administration would save about $150 million without any benefits to workers being cut.”

Like the council, Rein said the city needs to take a more measured approach to how they plan to save.

“What we can do is focus on the services that help people in the most important way. That’s the focus to do it,” said Rein.

The cuts have been met with growing frustration from New Yorkers.

“The level of no matter what happens, particularly if you’re a mayor that’s accessible and one you can see. It’s like that darn Eric Adams,” said Adams on Thursday.