New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday announced potential budget cuts of at least five percent across all city agencies, amid an illegal immigration crisis in the Big Apple. His office also announced it’s taking other efforts to reduce costs.
Mr. Adams cited “the convergence of circumstances threatening New York City’s financial stability” for the steps his administration is taking to balance the city’s budget, as required by law.
“Because the city has been forced to bear most costs of the asylum seeker humanitarian crisis at a time when revenue growth is slowing and COVID-19 stimulus funding is sunsetting, the city faces substantial fiscal disruption if circumstances do not change,” his office stated.
The mayor is calling for every city agency to plan to reduce spending by 5 percent for the November budget, then another 5 percent for the January budget, and yet another 5 percent for the April budget.
Specifically, his administration is “asking all of our agencies to submit a plan to reduce their city-funded spending in each year of our financial plan by five percent for our upcoming November budget update; by another five percent in January’s preliminary budget; and by a final five percent in April’s executive budget,” Mr. Adams said in a video address to New Yorkers on Saturday.
About 10,000 illegal immigrants seeking asylum are “still arriving each month,” which puts the estimated costs for taxpayers at “$12 billion over three fiscal years,” his office stated.
The $12 billion figure is “almost triple the city’s previous $3.9 billion estimate for two fiscal years, which was funded in the city’s financial plan,” the office noted. “This means that, without additional state and federal support, the city will need to add another $7 billion to the financial plan over this year and the next to meet rapidly expanding needs.”
Reducing Costs of Caring for Illegal Immigrants
New York City has taken in about 112,000 illegal immigrants since spring 2022 with nearly 60,000 temporarily living in government shelters.
“While our compassion is limitless, our resources are not,” Mr. Adams told New Yorkers.
“While the city’s recovery and economy are strong, we face slowing revenue growth and COVID stimulus funding that has supported education and social services programs sunsets next fiscal year. But the money has to come from somewhere. … In this context, and to secure our city’s financial future, unless the economy performs better than expected, we are forced to consider significant cost-saving measures.”
The administration is also looking at various ways to reduce the costs of caring for the illegal immigrants, noting that it is “actively working to reduce housing and other costs by transitioning migrants out of the shelter system and humanitarian emergency response and relief centers to more cost-effective shelter.”
In July, the city announced that it would give illegal immigrants 60 days’ notice to find alternate housing and move out of the shelters they had been provided with. “We have no more room in this city,” Mr. Adams said at the time.
‘There Will Not Be Layoffs’
The mayor’s office said on Saturday that the administration “will seek to minimize disruption to programs and services, and there will not be layoffs.”
“For the better part of the year now, I have been clear that these costs will impact every city service,” Mr. Adams said. While I have instructed my team to work closely with city agencies to reduce the impact that these cuts may have on New Yorkers who rely on our services, the simple truth is that long time New Yorkers and asylum seekers will feel these potential cuts, and they will hurt.”
He added: “We can still avoid these cuts if Washington and Albany do their part of paying their fair share and coming up with decompression strategy that reduces the pressure on New York City so we are not forced to manage this crisis almost entirely on our own. … This is a national crisis that requires national leadership. It’s time for our partners to join us.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration has already allocated $1.5 billion in state aid to address the influx of illegal immigrants. The funds go to “health care, shelter costs, National Guard personnel, legal services, and voluntary relocation programs,” according to the governor’s office.
The governor’s office also recently announced a $20 million investment to help speed up the casework filing process for more than 30,000 asylum-seekers.
New York’s illegal immigrant crisis has been blamed on the Biden administration by Republicans for its apparent unwillingness to secure the southern U.S. border with Mexico. More than 5.6 million migrants have illegally crossed the southern border since President Joe Biden took office.
State authorities in Texas and other parts of the county who have been taking in the majority of illegal border-crossers have been sending them to sanctuary cities such as New York, which has seen its social services and shelter systems overwhelmed.
From The Epoch Times
