Adams Pushed To Add $1B In Health, Safety Spending To Final Budget

NEW YORK CITY — City lawmakers soon will find out if Mayor Eric Adams listened to their pleas to add more than $1 billion to his cautious spending plan.

Adams is set to unveil his final executive budget proposal on Tuesday. The reveal will set the stage for a final round of negotiations with City Council members before the new fiscal year begins July 1.

The state of those negotiations likely will depend on how many multi-million dollar requests from Council members make it into Adams' proposal, which had prioritized cutting the fat in city spending when the mayor's first draft was proposed in February. City Council members have pushed for the mayor to add more than $1 billion they deem necessary for the city's coronavirus recovery.

"Our city government has a responsibility to ensure the families and communities of this city have access to the resources and services that allow us to not only recover, but to thrive," Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said Monday. "We must see increasing vital programs and services for our young people, prioritizing mental and physical health care, and expanding access to essential services and opportunity as investments in our safety.”

In his preliminary budget proposal, Adams promised to tackle "wasteful spending" by asking each agency to reduce spending by 3 percent — a cut of $2 billion to city spending.

"We must push back against government waste and inefficiency," the mayor said at the time.

But lawmakers contended these cuts could exacerbate disparities highlighted by the coronavirus crisis, instead of safeguarding the most vulnerable New Yorkers in the city's pandemic recovery.

Their own budget proposal asks the city to add money to various city services, specifically those focused on "health and safety."

Among the requests are $57 million for year-round youth employment, $59 million to add "restorative justice coordinators" to city schools, $45 million to help hospitals, $52 million for park maintenance and $61 million for a program that sends mental health specialists to emergency calls, according to a priority list sent out Monday.

The Council proposal also includes big-ticket capital items, like a $250 million plan to build health centers in underserved areas, $163 million for library repairs and $250 million for bathrooms at city parks.

The mayor has already offered some clues to whether he will attend to the requests in the final budget.

This week, Adams announced that the executive budget will include a $170 million plan to add 1,400 beds to homeless shelters and a $900 million investment in street safety upgrades over the next five years, both of which are areas where the council had called for more investment.

But the final budget proposal will also include more moves toward fiscal discipline. The mayor said Monday he would cut 855 vehicles from the fleet used by the city in an effort to save taxpayer dollars and reduce carbon emissions.

Adams will make his final budget proposal at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.