Eric Adams unveils $111.6B NYC budget; restores $515M for schools, two NYPD classes

Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a $111.6 billion executive budget for fiscal year 2025 that restores $515 million in school funding and will put more cops on Big Apple streets — but falls short of plugging more than $58 million in cuts for libraries.The proposed spending plan, released by City Hall on Wednesday, came in at $2.2 billion above the preliminary budget announced in January and carves out billions for the city’s migrant crisis.The plan, which is $4 billion more than the current budget, benefited from higher-than-expected tax revenues and proactive cuts in city spending critics contend were premature and unnecessary.

“The real challenge we had coming into office in 2022 was sunsetting of programs, and also we had to look at the realization that all of our union contracts were outstanding,” Adams said at a press conference.“And to add to that, we got the asylum seekers, so that created a real crisis,” the mayor said.“If we didn’t start early with our [Programs to Eliminate the Gap] we would have had a challenging time.”Adams hailed his administration for getting the jump on budget cuts and curbing migrant costs, specifically the 30- and 60-day shelter limits he put in place.

The pact also funds pre-kindergarten outreach, noting that 23,000 slots were left empty.The plan sets aside $92 million for the 3-K program and another $74 million for mental health services in the schools.The budget also restores two NYPD classes that will see more officers patrolling city streets, Adams said.

City Hall announced draconian cuts in the fall, including a planned series of 5% cuts to city agency budgets in anticipation of spiking costs of handling the migrant crisis — the administration’s PEGs.He said the PEGs saved the city $7.2 billion.

“We had a total of $1.5 billion in stimulus cliff,” the mayor said.“How do you put in $1.5 billion of temporary dollars into permanent programs? We had to go in and say, how do we fund these? “These were real...