Mayor Calls for 5% Cuts Across All Agencies to Deal with Migrant Crisis
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams hosts “Talk with Eric: A Community Conversation." P.S./I.S. 191 – The Riverside School for Makers and Artists, 300 West 61st Street, New York, NY. September 6, 2023. -Photo by Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office |
NEW YORK - In order to meet the costs of dealing with the surging migrant crisis Mayor Eric Adams is calling on all city agencies to enact a 5 percent cut in spending.
Adams announced the cuts as part of a plan to handle the ballooning migrant crisis which the mayor said will cost the taxpayers $12 billion over the next three years without federal and state support.
In an effort to maintain the city’s fiscal strength, the Adams administration 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 shelters, in addition to looking closely at other ways to reduce the costs of caring for the asylum seekers. The administration will also be taking additional actions to control spending and promote budget savings that will be announced in the near future.
“Since the large influx of asylum seekers to our city began last spring, we have warned New Yorkers that every city service could be impacted by this crisis if we did not get the support we needed,” Adams said. “Coupling the costs of a national crisis that has fallen onto New York City with COVID funding that is running out and reduced revenue growth, our city’s financial future may be at risk if we do not act.
“Our city continues to receive approximately 10,000 asylum seekers each month, and, as we laid out last month, we anticipate spending $12 billion through the end of Fiscal Year 2025 if circumstances do not change,” the mayor said. “While our compassion is limitless, our resources are not. This is a sobering fact, and that’s why today’s decision was not made lightly. At this time, we are asking all of our agencies to submit a plan to reduce their city-funded spending in each year of our financial plan, but the die is not yet cast. If we can get the substantial support we need from our federal and state partners, we can avoid these funding reductions. We need Washington and Albany to finally do their part by paying their fair share and coming up with a decompression strategy that reduces the pressure on New York City, so we are not forced to manage this crisis almost entirely on our own. We also continue to raise our call for expedited work authorization and comprehensive immigration reform to immediately address this crisis.”
“This administration was elected with the task of making the tough choices today to ensure a better tomorrow for our city,” said First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright. “These PEGs are vital to protect the city’s financial future and our ability to deliver for New Yorkers. What has not changed is our clear call to action. New York City cannot and should not navigate this asylum seeker crisis on our own, and we need support across every level government.”
Last month, Adams divulged a refreshed gauge for refuge seeker costs, showing that the asylum seeker population has become quicker than recently expected and that missing extra state and government support, the emergency could cost the city more than $12 billion north of three monetary years. This figure addresses practically triple the city's past $3.9 billion gauge for two monetary years, which was subsidized in the city's monetary arrangement.
This means that, without extra state and government support, the city should add one more $7 billion to the monetary arrangement over this year and the close to meet quickly growing necessities.
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