Mayor Eric Adams explains how new preliminary budget restores previous cuts
NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams has proposed a new preliminary budget for the next fiscal year that deals with New York City's crushing asylum seeker crisis without all the painful cuts to city services that drove his popularity to record lows.
How did he do it?
READ MORE: Mayor Adams announces $90 million for school programs after slashing city budget months ago
It wasn't blue smoke and mirrors that allowed the mayor to unveil a budget that cut agency spending. He did it the old fashioned way, by doing things more efficiently.
What a concept.
Remember, it was just two months ago that Adams said he would slash police, fire and sanitation service to pay for the asylum seeker crisis. But he not only found a way to restore many of those cuts, he's also cutting the cost of caring for the migrants that keep arriving here.
The $109.4 billion budget closes a $7.1 billion gap. It includes $1.7 billion in asylum seeker-related savings.
"Going forward, we'll reduce daily household costs by modifying the services and staffing models in our 18 emergency response and relief centers, and we are negotiating and renegotiating rates and rebidding contracts with shelters run by for-profit vendors," Adams said.
READ MORE: No further budget cuts coming to New York City libraries
The mayor is also going to rely on nonprofit groups to run shelters, and he's moved to reduce the shelter population by limiting the stay to 30 and 60 days.