Adams Defends Cuts By Citing 'Economic Tsunami,' Questionable Stats

NEW YORK CITY — After New York City's top fiscal watchdog raised concerns about citywide planned staffing cuts, Mayor Eric Adams shot back with a dire prediction — and some questionable statistics.

"We need to be prepared for the economic tsunami that is coming towards our city," Adams said Tuesday.

Adams' doom-and-gloom forecast came less than a day after Politico and other outlets reported that City Hall officials warned city departments about a third round of budget cuts.

All departments — save "uniformed" agencies such as the NYPD, as well as teachers — would have to cut half of vacant positions as the city faces down an up to $6 billion budget gap by 2025, City Hall officials said. The move would save $350 million, according to reports.

The directive prompted quick criticism from several top officials, most notably Comptroller Brad Lander, who is charged with fiscal oversight. Lander argued the cuts would impact city services and a key Adams slogan.

"While we agree that savings are critical as New York City faces economic headwinds, confronting those risks cannot come at the expense of diminishing the City’s capacity to get stuff done," Lander said in a statement Monday. "Today’s directive to agencies furthers our concerns about recruiting and retaining the staff needed to implement critical programs from traffic safety improvements to processing housing applications."

Adams, when asked about Lander's broadside, shot back by effectively asking what "stuff" gets done by the comptroller's office.

He did so by citing some dubious statistics that he admitted from the outset "could be wrong."

"I believe we have a 6 percent citywide vacancy rate, the mayor's office," Adams said. "I believe the comptroller has a 17 percent vacancy rate. And so if he's stating with my 6 percent (that) I'm going to have a problem doing services, what is he going to do with 17 percent?"

The city indeed lost 6.4 percent of its workforce during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a recent audit by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

But the state audit also estimated that the vacancy rate for fiscal year 2022 is actually higher: 7.9 percent.

The mayoralty — or mayor's office itself — had a 17.2 percent vacancy rate that year, compared to the comptroller's 13 percent, according to the state comptroller's audit.

A city comptroller's spokesperson told Patch that their office's current rate is 13.5 percent. The mayor's planned cuts could impact the comptroller's office's ability to do its job of oversight, the spokesperson said.

"To ensure we have the staff and skills needed to fulfill this oversight mandate, we are working hard to broaden our recruitment footprint to job fairs in every borough and at CUNY, as well as offering competitive benefits like a hybrid workplace,” the city spokesperson said in a statement.