They say they’re saving taxpayer dollars.

"At the end of the day, the best fiscal decision, and the preferred location for aging was 14 Wall Street and it saved the city taxpayers over $31 million," Louis Molina, the head of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, said.

A strong defense of a lease deal in the making — a deal that's attached to a controversial figure in the Adams administration: Jesse Hamilton.

He is a close Adams ally, former state senator and now head of the city's massive real estate portfolio at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Hamilton did not appear at the Council on Tuesday, which was grilling the agency over his role and the multiple controversies surrounding him.

One of them was a new lease for the city's Department for the Aging.

Initially, it appeared the city would go with a deal on Broadway. But shortly thereafter, and at Hamilton's urging, it is planning to go with this building on Wall Street. That building is owned by Eric Adams donor Alexander Rovt, whose family contributed $15,000 to the mayor's legal defense fund. 

"The general counsel felt that the optics of going to 14 Wall Street might look troubling but was not illegal,” Molina said. “And in my assessment, it would have been more important to do two things — get an agency in a location that they preferred and not, in my opinion, spend over $31 million more to be in 250 Broadway because we were concerned that the decision we were making might look a little troubling to outside observers. We're here to explain that."

Hamilton's phone was seized last month by the Manhattan district attorney's office, along with broker Diana Boutross of Cushman and Wakefield and Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor's top adviser. Their phones were taken when they returned from a vacation together in Japan.

Molina said no conflicts of interest laws were violated in relation to the trip.

That’s despite the fact Boutross is one real estate broker who finds the city space to lease when needed and works directly with Hamilton. That contract for tenant leasing services is about to rebid by the city.

Since his phone's seizure, Hamilton's job responsibilities have not changed.

And the mayor continues to stand by him despite his questionable actions.

A video was unveiled at the hearing where Hamilton recorded praise, unbeknownst to the commissioner, for a private warehouse building in the Bronx. Earlier this month, Boutross, Hamilton and others met with the commissioner to see if the city was willing to purchase the property.

It's unclear why Hamilton was so interested in the acquisition.