With this cruel, dangerous Budget Modification, Mayor Adams is proposing to slash jobs, cut vital services, and make our city less safe and stable.

The Mayor has already made $469 Million in cuts to our schools that we continue to battle to restore, and this Budget Modification cuts an additional $75 Million. He has already forced agencies to slash their budgets again and again through so-called “PEGs,” which cut working New Yorkers off from the services they need and deserve, and from which the NYPD was exempt. He recently announced that he’s gunning for City Council discretionary budgets, which fund senior centers, after-school programs, and more.

And now this austerity Budget Modification. There is only so much punishment New Yorkers can take.

Let’s be clear about what this really means to everyday New Yorkers. It means libraries slashing staff and hours. It means CUNY students losing their favorite professors. It means depriving families of promised 3K programming. It means New Yorkers waiting longer for services they desperately need, as the agencies responsible for providing them are reduced to skeleton crews. It means decimating public assistance, supportive housing, mental health programs, and other key public safety programs that are already underfunded and understaffed. All this despite the fact that the City will end this fiscal year with a $2 billion dollar surplus. 

Adding insult to injury, Mayor Adams recently blamed his own service cuts on the migrants and asylum seekers who have recently arrived. We can’t and won’t fall into the xenophobic trap of blaming immigrants for needless reductions to essential services.

Many Members spoke out at today’s Stated meeting, and we will continue to raise our collective voice against the Budget Modification and FY24 cuts in their current dangerous and cruel forms. Mayor Adams’ austerity agenda is unconscionable and must be undone.