Mayor Adams urged state lawmakers Tuesday to supply his administration with extra migrant disaster funding this yr — however his plea didn’t transfer the needle with Gov. Hochul, who has already declared she’s not trying to earmark extra such sources for New York Metropolis.
Adams delivered the request for extra migrant disaster help earlier than members of the state Senate Finance and state Meeting Methods and Means Committees. The annual listening to options mayors from throughout the state who trek to Albany to put out their fiscal wants earlier than legislators and the governor start talks in earnest on the state price range due within the spring.
In ready testimony, Adams stated town has spent about $6.9 billion on caring for tens of hundreds of largely Latin American migrants since spring 2022 and that his staff anticipates that price ticket will hold swelling in coming years.
Migrants line up on E. Seventh St. and Avenue B to get right into a migrant re-ticketing heart at St. Brigid Faculty on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. (Barry Williams for New York Every day Information)
Adams — who warned in 2023 the price of the migrant disaster “will destroy” New York — advised lawmakers that with out extra state help, his administration is left with a $1.1 billion metropolis price range gap that should be addressed with spending cuts or income will increase earlier than the plan’s due by the July 1 begin of the 2026 fiscal yr.
On Jan. 16, Adams unveiled a 2026 fiscal yr metropolis price range proposal that was balanced.
However his price range director, Jacques Jiha, revealed to reporters after Tuesday’s listening to that Adams’ newest plan was solely balanced as a result of his staff operated underneath the idea that town would get new state migrant disaster funding.
New York Metropolis Price range Director Jacques Jiha, heart, testifies earlier than the State Senate Finance and New York Meeting Methods and Means Committees in Albany on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (Michael Appleton / Mayoral Images Workplace)
The $1.1 billion gap, Jiha stated, comes from the truth that Hochul didn’t make good on that assumption when she launched an govt state price range proposal on Jan. 21 that included no new migrant disaster help for town.
And Hochul’s staff didn’t budge on that subject Tuesday.
“The FY26 Executive Budget does not include any new funding for the migrant crisis, and our position has not changed,” Avi Small, Hochul’s spokesman, stated after Adams’ testimony.
Adams, who has sometimes aligned with Hochul on most points, advised reporters exterior the listening to room he’ll attempt to change her thoughts.
“The state still needs to help us,” he stated, including he would meet privately with Hochul later within the day.
Mayor Adams, heart, testifies earlier than the New York State Senate Finance and New York State Meeting Methods and Means Committees in Albany on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (Michael Appleton / Mayoral Images Workplace)
Additionally in Tuesday’s listening to, Jiha revealed town hasn’t but drawn down all of $2.4 billion in migrant disaster funding the state offered final yr. Jiha stated town has solely acquired $1 billion of final yr’s allocation to this point.
He instructed a majority of the funding town was offered final yr stays untapped as a result of it’s unlocked on a reimbursement foundation, that means Adams’ administration submits receipts for related bills that the state then offers cash in opposition to.
Jiha famous town at present has about $750 million in excellent claims. That leaves about $650 million from final yr that has but to be claimed by town.
Adams’ spokespeople didn’t return requests for touch upon why town hasn’t submitted claims for the excellent money.
Gov. Kathy Hochul. (Susan Watts / Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)
In addition to migrant disaster funding, Adams testified Tuesday he hopes Albany can act on three priorities he has highlighted for months: Move a invoice that might remove metropolis revenue tax for low-income New Yorkers; move a invoice that might broaden the power to involuntarily hospitalize mentally ailing people; and undo a number of the 2020 prison justice legal guidelines that put extra necessities on the methods through which prosecutors share proof with defendants in prison circumstances through the pre-trial discovery part.
These three priorities weren’t as extensively mentioned in Tuesday’s listening to, and it’s unclear what kind of urge for food the Democrat-controlled Legislature — which crafted the invention reforms — may need to roll them again.
Hochul has voiced assist for rolling again the invention reforms, and can also be backing the mayor’s pushes for scrapping metropolis revenue tax for some residents and increasing the involuntary dedication requirements.
Initially Revealed: February 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM EST
