Mayor Adams Unveils $115B Budget For 2026

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams has unveiled his $115 billion budget for 2026.

Adams announced the plan during an appearance at Bayside High School in Queens on Thursday.

The mayor's budget dubbed "The Best Budget Ever" aims to protect funding for critical services, invest in public safety, make the city more affordable and improve quality of life for New Yorkers.

In addition, it includes $1.4 billion in funding for programs that were facing cuts.

“This budget is a testament to our commitment to making New York City safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family. From prioritizing access to child care and launching ‘After-School for All’ to investing in permanent funding for libraries, CUNY, and our world-class institutions that make New York City what it is, to tackling quality-of-life issues and making our streets safer, the $1.4 billion we're investing to protect and lift up critical programs will make lives better for families across all five boroughs," Adams said in a statement.

Here's what's included in the 2026 budget:

- Funding for key criminal justice reform programs, and puts the New York City Police Department on track to reach a uniformed headcount of up to 35,000 officers by the fall of 2026

- permanent, annual funding of $199 million in critical education programs to support families and their children that were once funded by federal pandemic-era stimulus.

- Supporting the citywide 3-K program with permanent funding ($92 million, baselined)

- Launching “After-School for All” that will bring universal after-school to New York City, beginning with over 20,000 more K-5 students by the fall of 2027, totaling 184,000 students.

- Funding to hire 3,700 new teachers across the public school system to reduce class sizes and provide more individualized care to students (initial investment of $150 million growing to $200 million annually)

- Funding to ensure every 3-K student will be offered a seat ($20 million).

- Funding to support school nurses ($298 million)

- Restoring CUNY savings in full ($96 million, baselined).

- Continuing Citywide litter basket pickups

- Funding for 7,000 summer youth jobs

- $15.7 million in funding for the city’s three public library systems

"We are doing all of this while maintaining record-high reserves to help us face anything that comes our way. And, with the city’s largest 10-year capital plan at $173 billion, we are delivering on infrastructure improvements and transformative generational projects that were talked about for decades but never achieved. This is the budget my mom needed, that my family needed, and, with it, we’re saying to working families: your city has your back," Adams added.

The 2026 budget plan of $115.1 billion is up from Adams' preliminary proposal of $114.5 billion in January.

Some City council members and city officals have said the budget still falls short.

"Eric Adams’ Executive Budget is from a fantasyland where Trump’s tariffs aren’t increasing the likelihood of an economic downturn and federal budget cuts aren’t looming. By refusing to put more money into reserves and prepare for the reality we are facing, Adams is once again failing to protect New Yorkers," Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement.

Council memeber Justin Brannan said the budget "doesn't fully meet the moment" with no real plan to prepare the city for federal cuts, tariffs or DOGE.

"It fails to safeguard critical programs or build the financial resilience we need. I'll be digging into the Executive Budget in the coming weeks, and I’ll be laser-focused on what matters most: protecting against cuts to the city’s essential services, and making sure New Yorkers don’t pay the price for political games in D.C. or a mayoral administration that still doesn’t have its eye on the ball," Brannan added.

You can view the full budget breakdown here.