New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered more spending cuts Monday, his third round of cost-saving measures since taking office.
A budget modification plan released by Adams last week showed $2.5 billion in savings from previous cost-cutting measures.
The city’s current budget for fiscal year 2023 totals $104 billion – three billion dollars more than the spending plan agreed upon between Adams and the City Council earlier in the year.
The order was conveyed in a letter to the commissioners of all city agencies by the mayor’s budget director, Jacques Jiha.
“We face great fiscal and economic challenges in the months and years ahead,” he wrote.
Effective October 31, half of all currently vacant city government posts are to be eliminated and will not be filled with new workers, according to the directive, which was first reported by Politico. That move alone could save the city about $350 million a year, according to a spokesperson for the mayor.
In addition, no funding will be allocated for new agency initiatives; existing resources will have to be used instead.
The NYPD, FDNY, Departments of Correction and Sanitation and educators were not included in the order.
The reason for slashing city government posts and initiatives has to do with the estimated $2.9 billion budget gap projected for the next fiscal year. Economists predict that gap could rise to $6 billion by 2026 due to the flood of migrants entering the city, rising healthcare and energy costs, upcoming labor contract talks with most of the unions in the public sector and the volatile financial market.
The cost of housing and social services for asylum seekers could reach a whopping $1 billion by next summer, according to Politico, unless the city receives state and federal funding to cover the tab.
