Are you feeling lucky? New Yorkers aren’t, with voters’ perceptions of the city hitting new lows in new polls. But the mayor is: Despite Mayor Adams touting his own “strong fiscal management,” the $114.1 billion budget he unveiled last week actually increases next summer’s deficit, just in time for his re-election bid.
Last Wednesday, Adams presented his second draft of the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. He’ll spend the next two months negotiating with the City Council over details.
Yes, it’s true that total spending, projected at $114.1 billion for next year, will fall, by 1.7%. Considering that inflation is still running close to 3%, it’s a significant cut.
Considering, too, that the Adams administration hasn’t yet managed to wring any efficiencies in government, it means New Yorkers will see real declines in day-to-day services.
For example, the mayor hasn’t added back funding that would allow libraries to re-open on Sundays and stay open on Saturdays. (He says he might, in negotiations with the council.)
But the top line is deceptive: The big story in this budget is that absent such efficiencies, the city is replacing one-time multibillion-dollar COVID-era grants from the federal government — with city-funded spending.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. Follow her on Twitter here.
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