The City Council unanimously voted on Monday to pass a nearly $116 billion municipal budget deal for the upcoming fiscal year that makes many of the investments in vital city services for which lawmakers have long pushed.
The spending plan, announced by Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (who are not related) in a handshake deal last Friday, passed the 51-member body unanimously. Unlike in past years, the council’s left-flank members largely voted for the budget, given its movement away from Hizzoner’s spending cuts and toward boosting funding for a slew of education, cultural, and public safety programs.
The spending plan is filled with nearly $2 billion in additional spending, which is going toward standing up new city programs and raising funding levels for many other existing ones. It gives wins to both Mayor Adams as he vies for reelection as an independent against presumed Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani — a democratic socialist Queens Assembly member — and council leaders who have long fought for expanding spending in many areas.
“The successes in this year’s budget are the product of multi-year efforts built upon a foundation of relentless advocacy by this council, together with New Yorkers across our entire city,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said ahead of the vote on her last budget as speaker. “While there is more work ahead, this shows that together, we can build a city where the budget reflects all of our needs, where families can afford not just to survive, but live and flourish right here.”
Many council members framed the spending plan both as a repudiation of the mayor’s past spending cuts and President Trump’s effort to slash billions of dollars from public assistance programs like Medicaid and Social Security in the federal budget. Progressive Council Member Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens) also cast the budget as a move toward a “new era,” likely a reference to Mamdani’s potential tenure as the next mayor.
“New Yorkers are clearly demanding a new kind of politics,” Cabán said before casting her “yes” vote. “A politics that chooses affordability for working people over the interests of the rich. Today’s budget sets us up to deliver for New Yorkers under a new administration that shares our values and commitments come January.”
The spending plan boasts allocations such as $54 million in new funding for immigrant legal services; $2 million to expand Sunday service at 10 additional public library branches; $10 million to launch a pilot child care program for children two years and younger; and $6.1 million to create a Division of Sustainable Delivery to oversee and regulate e-bikes.
The immigrant legal service funding is aimed at strengthening protections for newcomers, as the Trump administration has ramped up its aggressive mass deportation operation in recent weeks.
“I’m proud of the wins we have landed, especially for our immigrant communities,” said Council Immigration Chair Alexa Avilés (D-Brooklyn) before casting her “yes” vote. “Though the Adams administration continues to fail to recognize the crisis of violence and mass deportation before us, this council has stood up and demanded more.”
Avilés was presumably referring to Mayor Adams’ reluctance to criticize Trump’s immigration agenda and willingness to work with federal immigration authorities on criminal matters.
Furthermore, it includes $112 million in recurring funding for the city’s universal pre-K and 3-K programs; funds to ensure the NYPD can expand its ranks back to 35,000 officers; and $5 million to expand access to the FairFares half-priced MetroCard program to those making 150% of the federal poverty level.
One area where the budget drew some criticism was around its funding for the city’s Parks Department. Parks advocates say the plan only includes funding to fill roughly one-fourth of nearly 800 department positions cut by Mayor Adams, which means about 600 will remain unfilled.
“The administration is ignoring the calls and dedicated advocacy of the City Council, union workers, hard-working volunteers, non-profit partners, environmental advocates, and every day New Yorkers who have been demanding the restoration of 795 previously cut and urgently needed parks workers in the budget,” said the group New Yorkers for Parks and NYLCV in a statement on behalf of the Play Fair for Parks Coalition.
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