The cuts, which include a freeze on police hiring, closure of libraries on Sundays, and other severe measures, are aimed at offsetting the financial burden of the massive influx of illegal immigrants into the city.
"No city should be left to handle a national humanitarian crisis largely on its own, and without the significant and timely support we need from Washington, D.C., today’s budget will be only the beginning," Adams warned, as reported by The New York Times. The cuts will reduce the city's $110 billion budget and will result in the police department's staffing levels falling below 30,000. The NYPD, which serves New York's five boroughs and nearly 9 million people, is already stretched thin, according to police union president Patrick Hendry.
November 18, 2023
"This is truly a disaster for every New Yorker who cares about safe streets," Hendry said. "Cops are already stretched to our breaking point, and these cuts will return us to staffing levels we haven’t seen since the crime epidemic of the ’80s and ’90s. We cannot go back there."
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In addition to the police department, the education department will also suffer, with $1 billion being pulled from its budget. This comes at a time when illegal immigrant children are flooding into classrooms, increasing the demand for resources. Even the mayor's own pet project—composting initiatives in the Bronx and Staten Island—will be shelved amid the reductions.
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"In all my time in government, this is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through," Adams confessed.
New York, a self-identified sanctuary city, has been grappling with an influx of around 10,000 illegal immigrants each month in 2023. The city's right to shelter law requires it to provide housing for those in need, a mandate that has been put to the test with the recent surge in immigration. However, the city's efforts have been met with criticism, with migrants at a newly built shelter at Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field complaining about the lack of amenities.
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The city's progressive Democrats have voiced their opposition to the cuts, but with declining tax revenues, the end of Covid funding from the federal government, the massive increase in the illegal immigrant population, and the Biden administration's refusal to take responsibility for the crisis, the city is left with little choice but to make tough decisions.
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City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams suggested exploring new revenue streams to offset the damage and argued that the costs of providing aid to illegal immigrants could be better managed. "The administration’s response in providing services for asylum seekers has relied far too much on expensive emergency contracts with for-profit companies that cost the city billions of dollars," she said.
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City comptroller Brad Lander, who ensured funding for Drag Queen Story Hour while in City Council, criticized Adams for blaming the border problems. He argued that Adams should "stop suggesting that asylum seekers are the reason for imposing severe cuts when they are only contributing to a portion of these budget gaps, much of which already existed."
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Federal officials, also not eager to take any blame, said that Adams is the problem because he doesn't have an adequate plan to deal with the illegal immigrant problem. His plan, it seems, is to slash the budget and punish New Yorkers.
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