NYC Mayor Eric Adams Releases Preliminary Budget for 2025

By Hamodia Staff

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams released New York City’s balanced $109.4 billion Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.

The budget restores critical spending for public safety, prioritizing the needs of working-class and young people while building on the administration’s record of responsible fiscal management.

The Adams administration took action early in the budget cycle with a citywide hiring freeze and Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) savings program. These actions helped balance the budget and stabilize the city’s financial position without layoffs, tax hikes, or major disruption to city services.

“Our administration came into office focused on making New York City safer, more prosperous, and more livable. With two years of hard work, we are heading in the right direction: Jobs are up, crime is down, tourists are back, our children’s test scores are better, and we are delivering for working-class New Yorkers every day,” said Mayor Adams.

“The growing asylum seeker crisis, COVID-19 stimulus funding drying up, tax revenue growth slowing, and unsettled labor contracts that we inherited widened the FY25 budget gap to a record level. But, with responsible and effective management, we have been able to provide care for asylum seekers and balance the budget — without unduly burdening New Yorkers with a penny in tax hikes or massive service reductions, and without laying off a single city worker.”

Projected tax revenues in the Preliminary Budget exceed those in the November 2023 Financial Plan tax by $1.3 billion in FY24 and $1.6 billion in FY25, due to better-than-anticipated economic performance in 2023. The Preliminary Budget also includes a near-record level $8.2 billion in reserves.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD), Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), and New York City Sanitation Department (DSNY) were exempted from the Preliminary Budget PEG to avoid impacts to public safety and cleanliness.

Mayor Adams managed to exempt the city’s three library systems as well from the PEG to prevent additional service reductions in the future. The New York City Department of Education (DOE), New York City Department of Social Services (DSS), New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), and New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) were partially exempted to minimize service disruptions.