NEW YORK, NY.- For months, Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Council have fought over which services to prioritize in negotiations over the city’s $100 billion-plus budget.
Now, as the budget deadline approaches on Friday, a deal is near, and city libraries appear to have been spared from cuts.
Adams, a Democrat in his second year in office, has pushed for broad spending cuts across city agencies. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and the council’s Progressive Caucus have warned that the cuts would be devastating for New Yorkers.
Many other city institutions and programs are at stake: the City University of New York, parks, discount MetroCards for poor New Yorkers, affordable housing, schools and universal prekindergarten, free legal services and home delivery meals for seniors.
Here’s what to know:
Libraries appear to be safe
Library leaders have been warning for months that the mayor’s budget cuts could force them to close many branches over the weekend.
On Wednesday, libraries appeared to be spared from $36 million in potential cuts, according to a person involved in the budget negotiations. City Council leaders threatened to walk away from negotiations in protest of the proposed cuts, the person said, although the mayor’s office disputed that characterization and called the discussions “productive and cordial.”
In a statement Wednesday night, Adrienne Adams thanked New Yorkers who “raised their voices in support” of libraries.
“This successful outcome for the coming year’s budget is an achievement shared by all New Yorkers,” she said.
The libraries started a campaign this month to highlight their central role as a beloved New York City institution, with social media posts from celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker and Chelsea Clinton. A large banner appeared outside the main branch of the New York Public Library in Manhattan saying: “No Cuts to Libraries.”
How will the city address the housing crisis?
New York City is facing a housing crisis with soaring rents and record homelessness.
Adrienne Adams has called for an additional $318 million, beyond the mayor’s budget proposal, for affordable housing and other neighborhood programs, and another $3 billion in capital funding.
Housing has been one of the most acrimonious issues dividing the speaker and the mayor. Last week, the mayor vetoed a package of bills approved by the council that would have expanded the city’s rental housing voucher program to more struggling New Yorkers.
Adrienne Adams, who is not related to the mayor, called his veto a “harmful act of useless political theater” and said that the council was prepared to override it.
The mayor argued that the bills were too expensive and exceeded the council’s legal authority. He also expressed frustration this week that state lawmakers did not do more to address the housing crisis during their recent legislative session.
“We didn’t get anything out of Albany dealing with affordable housing,” he said at an unrelated news conference. “That is unbelievable when you think about it.”
A debate over funding for schools and 3-K
The City Council’s Progressive Caucus has released its own list of budget priorities, including stopping cuts to public schools, universal prekindergarten and CUNY.
The group has criticized the mayor for halting the expansion of 3-K for All, a preschool program for 3-year-olds and a signature policy of his predecessor, Bill de Blasio. City Council leaders have also opposed cuts to CUNY, a move that could hurt programs like CUNY Reconnect, which has helped 16,000 students reenroll.
Public schools have also seen budget cuts because of declining enrollment.
Two of the mayor’s education priorities are expected to be included in the budget, according to another person familiar with budget negotiations. An additional roughly $20 million will go toward a plan, announced by the schools chancellor in May, promising that all individual school budgets will be kept flat or increase next school year.
The budget will also include funding to convert about 1,900 vacant standard early childhood education seats into extended day seats that families prefer, the person said.
Programs for poor New Yorkers could be cut
Leaders in the City Council have called for more funding for a program that provides free legal services to tenants facing eviction, for senior services and for half-price MetroCards for poor New Yorkers.
In 2017, New York became the first city in the nation to give the right to counsel to tenants facing eviction in court. Legal service providers have been struggling to meet rising caseloads, and the council called for an additional $18 million for the program.
The City Council has also raised concerns about cuts to home-delivery meals for seniors and called for more funding for the program.
The council has also requested $61 million to expand the popular Fair Fares NYC program, which provides half-price rides on buses and subways, and to allow New Yorkers with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty line to qualify.
The mayor has said that broad spending cuts are necessary because the city is facing an array of financial challenges, including the migrant crisis, new costs for labor deals with city employees and vacant space in commercial real estate.
What if the budget is late?
With so much tension between the mayor and the City Council, some worry that the budget could be late.
Missing the deadline Friday would not be “a big deal,” said Ana Champeny, a vice president at the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan watchdog group. The current budget would remain in effect until a new one is adopted.
Still, the mayor and the City Council speaker want to make the deadline.
“We don’t want this to be delayed,” the mayor said Monday.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
