Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYC Council hearings on Mayor Adams’ budget proposal to begin Monday
By
Giulia Heyward
Published May 6, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
John McCarten / NYC Council Media Unit
By
Giulia Heyward
Published May 6, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Libraries, education, policing, sanitation: How should New York City spend almost $112 billion in residents’ tax dollars?
That’s the question facing the City Council, which on Monday will begin a series of hearings on Mayor Eric Adams’ spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that starts on July 1.
The budget hearings are set to take place less than two weeks after Adams unveiled his latest executive budget proposal. The $112 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025 would partially reverse unpopular cuts to policing and early childhood education programs but would reduce funding for other critical city services, such as parks and libraries. Adams and the Council will negotiate on the budget over the next couple of months, and whatever deal they strike could come with changes.
The anticipated negotiations come at a moment of stark tension between councilmembers and the mayor on a number of fronts.
On Friday, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced a formal request for an independent investigation into the NYPD’s social media activity after top police officials used their accounts to attack lawmakers, journalists and others who have criticized the department, including over its handling of recent campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war. On the same day, the mayor’s chief legal counsel demanded a Council ethics inquiry into a councilmember who she said had harassed administration officials with aggressive questioning at a hearing last week.
The legislative and executive branches are also quarreling over the administration’s new policy requiring elected officials to fill out a lengthy online form to request meetings and other engagements with agency leaders. And some councilmembers are preemptively opposing Mayor Adams’ potential nomination of a controversial attorney as the city’s corporation counsel and have cited record defending conservative causes, including in local affairs.
The Council’s and Adams’ conflicting views on how much money the city has to spend are expected to be a key part of the budget hearings. In addition to denouncing some of the cuts proposed by Adams, lawmakers have argued that higher-than-predicted tax revenues and the city’s reserves make the funding reductions unnecessary.
Councilmember Justin Brannan, who chairs the influential finance committee, said on Sunday that a recent analysis by the Council found more than $1 billion available for additional spending. “[T]hat can and should be used to dunk on all of the remaining cuts, boost our reserves and then some!” he said in a post on X.
Various committees are scheduled to hold the hearings through May 22 and will examine the budgets the mayor’s team has put forward for different city agencies. The general welfare committee will kick off the first hearing, on the city’s department of social services and human resources administration, at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
Members of the public are welcome to testify at the proceedings in person at City Hall, in writing or via Zoom and can sign up on the Council’s website. City agency leaders are also expected to testify.
The full schedule of budget hearings can be found on the Council's calendar.
Tagged
Politics
education
new york city
Adrienne Adams
public safety
libraries
justin brannan
City Council
eric adams
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Peepapalooza: NYC is heading to the Hudson Valley to watch the leaves
Don't be surprised if you run into someone from your building in Beacon.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
Sean Carlson
Published Oct 24, 2026 at 10:46 a.m. ET
NYPD: Officer shot, injured knife-wielding woman during ‘chaotic’ night at Queens home
The woman is in stable condition, police said, but several people were stabbed.
By
Ryan Kost
News
NYPD: Officer shot, injured knife-wielding woman during ‘chaotic’ night at Queens home
The woman is in stable condition, police said, but several people were stabbed.
By
Ryan Kost
3 slates vying to run Jersey City school board as city stares down major tax hikes
By
Michael Sol Warren
5 men charged with trespassing in 2 Manhattan manhole cases
By
Charles Lane
6-year-old girl breaks leg after getting hit by falling bricks in Queens
By
Charles Lane
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .