NEW YORK, NY.- A major second wave of cuts to the New York City library system has been averted in an eleventh-hour deal announced Thursday by the City Council and Mayor Eric Adams.

The restoration of $58 million in proposed cuts to the city’s three major library systems, part of a broader city budget agreement expected to be announced Friday, has been one of the main focal points of the City Council speaker, Adrienne Adams. It is expected to allow libraries to reopen on Sundays and remain open on Saturdays.

The budget, which is due Sunday, will also restore $53 million in funding for arts institutions, according to the announcement.

The mayor’s office and the City Council are in the final stages of negotiations, and deliberations have been contentious, with the two sides unable to agree on basic revenue estimates.

Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running for reelection next year, had initially proposed major cuts to schools, police and sanitation services, citing pessimistic revenue projections and the continued financial burden associated with an influx of migrants into the city.

But the mayor’s revenue projections were widely criticized as being overly pessimistic. The City Council, the Independent Budget Office and various watchdog groups cited economic indicators that suggested that the mayor’s revenue projections were inaccurate. Even the fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission in April called the administration’s revenue projections “unreasonably conservative.”

With tax revenue forecasts improving, the mayor relented on some of his proposed cuts in April, and seemed to leave the door open for further negotiations with the Council.

“The city’s unreasonably pessimistic revenue projections have led to billions in unnecessary and harmful budget cuts,” said Nathan Gusdorf, the director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning policy group. “As a result, New Yorkers have faced a 3-K shortage, underfunded schools and shuttered libraries — reducing the quality of life for millions.”

The budget negotiations come at a fraught time in city government as the mayor and the City Council spar over public safety, hiring procedures and rent increases. In one example this week, Adrienne Adams criticized the work of the mayor’s charter revision commission as “wholly unserious.”

Adrienne Adams, a Democrat from Queens, has pushed the mayor to restore $53 million for arts and cultural institutions and $7 million for community composting, which allows New Yorkers to drop off food scraps at neighborhood sites. The deal reached Thursday also restored the cuts made to composting, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Council leaders also pushed for more funding for early childhood programs, including free preschool for 3-year-olds and services for young children with disabilities. It remains to be seen whether that funding will be restored.

But the leaders, buoyed by numerous community groups, made libraries a top priority. An initial round of city budget cuts forced all libraries to close on Sundays in November, prompting outrage among New Yorkers who rely on them for access to books, computers and other resources. And during the recent heat wave, the closures have taken away a reliable and accessible option for some in need of relief.

“Libraries are among our most precious public resources, and they deserve our full investment,” Adrienne Adams said recently as City Council members held rallies with library leaders.

It is not the first time that libraries have been threatened with devastating budget cuts, only to be saved at the last minute. Last year, libraries were spared from more than $30 million in cuts. Under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, another fiscal conservative, funding for libraries was constantly under threat.

But the fears became reality this year after all branches were closed on Sundays and the mayor suggested that libraries should turn to their endowments.

Grace Rauh, executive director of the 5Boro Institute, a think tank created by the mayor’s allies, celebrated the restored library funding as a “big win,” but questioned why they were always used as part of political gamesmanship in the city.

“They should be spending time and resources on library services and not have to wage public campaigns to keep the lights on,” she said.

The mayor said in a radio interview Wednesday that New Yorkers who were concerned about cuts to city parks should “sit tight” and that they would be satisfied once a final budget deal is reached.

“People will be extremely happy how we navigated the challenges that we’re facing and we’re able to not lay off any teachers, not lay off any civil servants, not raise taxes,” he said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.