Transcript: Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams Reach Handshake Agreement For Responsible, Balanced, And On-time Fiscal Year 2025 Budget That Invests In Future Of New York City

June 28, 2024

Mayor Eric Adams: One of the most significant moments, when I was elected, First Deputy Mayor Wright tooka team of us to the Museum of the City of New York, and our entire leadership went to the museum. It was one of the most significant and important moments for us, because we walked through the museum, and we read the articles of yesteryears, of administrations of the past. All of the situations we are facing right now, we saw it on the walls: housing, immigration, health care, police issues.

What was most unique for me, when I left that museum, I didn't see this. I didn't see this. When I walked out, I realized that people who were making decisions for folks who looked like those behind me, didn't look like them. We were focused on how do we bring everyday people into government, at the same time there was an intersectionality between the largest number of women being in the City Council and elected, and probably one of the most diverse and probably one of the youngest City Councils in history. It has always been a protection of mine, not only to protect the people of the city that I did as a police officer, but also to protect our legacy. It means so much to me that Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the City Council, and I both went to Bayside High School, a blue-collar school.
When I gave the commencement address as the keynote speaker a few days ago at that school, and Adrienne, the speaker, did it last year, it meant a lot. We came from blue-collar parents who never would have imagined that their children would be running the most important city on the globe. I'm going to do everything possible to protect not only the people of this city, but our legacy, because many people want to distort the legacy of the people who are standing behind us, of this diverse City Council population, and the leadership of my administration. You want to define us by the places that we disagree, and not define us by the successful actions that we have done.

This body of public service should be so proud. The speaker and I came into this office where COVID was everywhere. Offices was closed. No one wanted to come in for tourism. Crime was a 40 percent peak. There was a level of uncertainty that hung over us. Not one year, not two years, but three years. We walked out here in this rotunda, and we shook hands and stated, in spite of everything else, we're going to put the people of this city first. What we have done, First Deputy Mayor Wright says all the time, I tell them, when people look back over the years that the two of us have been in office, they're going to really understand what we accomplished. 200,000 migrants and asylum seekers, sunsetting dollars from the COVID dollars that were going away, overproliferation of guns in our community, had to really go into the bunker and figure this out together. That's what we did.

I'm proud of that moment. No matter how many people try to define us based on their criteria, you are wrong. This body of people and public servants have done something that no one thought we can do. If you like it or not, we have been successful. We have done our job, and we will continue to do our job in the right way and deliver for the people of this city, the working-class people who have often been ignored.

I want to thank Speaker Adams. I want to thank all of the Councilmembers who have fought hard and shared their opinions. You know what? We have 51 members. We have 3 million opinions. They are not afraid to share their opinions. That is what democracy is supposed to be about. That is how we have been successful. We could be clear, the four letters, the four words that many people thought we would not say, we will say. We have a deal. We have a deal.

We have reached an adopted budget of $112.4 billion. We guided the plane throughout all the turbulence. Many of you who are on board with us thought the turbulence mean the plane was going to sink. No. Adams and Adams United is here to say we have a deal. The budget is about making life in the city affordable for New Yorkers because we know there is an affordability crisis. People are concerned about these important issues. Many New Yorkers are struggling to pay their bills, pay for food, pay for child care and health care and keep a roof over their heads. Today, we are delivering a budget that invests in the future of our city and the working people who live here.

I want to, again, thank the speaker and the finance chair, Justin Brannan, for their partnership, their commitment and the hours of conversation. I want to thank Jacques Jiha and his team over at OMB, Jeremy, for sitting down and having those conversations and showing the discipline while all the noise was going on around you. They sat at the table and understood how important it was to seal the deal. I want to thank the two voices for our administration that have done so much. Our Intergovernmental Affairs person, Tiffany Raspberry, and her team, and the ever-present negotiator and fighter for this city, my chief advisor, Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

We've always made it clear our mission was affordability, public safety, and making our city livable for working class people. We made the smart decisions, tough decisions, early. We started out early. Little did we know we were going to be dealing with an over $4 billion migrant crisis. We started early. Because of the actions we did early, we were able to deal with a $7 billion budget deficit that we had to close because we made the right decisions early. Our actions have helped us arrive at a strong and fiscal responsible budget today and has allowed us to partner with the Council together, invest in our early childhood education, cultural organizations, libraries, parks, public safety, housing, and healthcare.

The budget reimagined early childhood education through a $100 million ten-point strategic plan. It helps identify seats for families who did not receive offers in school year '24 and ' 25 for the pre-K and 3K application round. It funds early childhood special education program, reduces wait list times for special education pre-K seats, and supports Promise NYC, which provides childcare options to undocumented children and families. We've also deepened our commitment to safeguarding programs previously funded with short-term stimulus dollars and support education. Summer Rising was sunsetting, pre-K, 3K, and so many other initiatives that were put in place with the full understanding they were sunsetting and we had to find the dollars to keep them going and permanently stabilize them. This includes support for teacher recruitment, tutoring support for kindergarten through second grade literacy, and sixth through eighth grade math education, as well as providing support for restorative justice program, computer science program, digital learning resources, and parent and family resources. We want our children to start out ahead in the coming year and have the full understanding of their stability. We are investing in our public schools, holding schools harmless for enrollment declines, holding them harmless, providing our school with certainty and continuing understanding of what to expect as they go into this school year.

Our investments in young people don't end when the school days run out. That's why we're restoring extended days for Summer Rising and Friday programming for middle school participants, as well as supporting community schools. We also want to ensure our young people have equitable access to career opportunities, so we are providing free MetroCards to Summer Youth Employment Program participants and making sure we are funding essential programs like CUNY ACE, CUNY STEM, and the Brooklyn Recovery Corps at Medgar Evers College as well as helping CUNY adjust to declining enrollment.

Now our cultural institutions, our libraries are crucial and critical parts of our city's social fabric. We depend on them and they depend on us. For our children's growth and our city's vibrancy, together, our administration and the city Council agreed to invest $53 million in our cultural institutions. When New Yorkers spoke, we listened. We know that our libraries provide a life… You could clap to that. That's why we have partnered with the City Council to put $58 million back into operation so our libraries can keep their doors open every day and continue to serve New Yorkers.

And you know how I feel about public safety. We realize that the cannabis shops have become a magnet, not only for a health crisis, but they've become a magnet for crime and Gale Brewer has led the charge on how we had to turn it around. We got the help from the state government, but we knew we had to put our dollars in place also. New Yorkers should not have to worry about crime, disorder, and their quality of life. That's why this budget provides much-needed resources to support the legal work related to the crackdown because when we close the shops, we must make sure that the legality of it allows them to remain closed. We're providing funds for staff positions at our new 116 Precinct in Queens, which is due to open this fall, and providing security at 55 New York City Housing Authority buildings to protect our senior programs. When I heard we were cutting this, and I heard from Councilmembers, we said it cannot happen. Our seniors must feel safe.

We also know that clean streets are essential to our quality of life and economic recovery, and it's no secret. It's very clear in this city. If you don't know anything else, you know I hate rats. We're going to do everything we have to continue to fund resources to get black garbage bags off our streets and ensuring our parks and streets remain places of beauty and connection with New Yorkers. We're investing in New Yorkers' backyard by providing funds for park rangers, support for green thumb programs, and tree stump removals, and a second cleaning shift at hotspot park locations during the peak days and hours with a $15 million investment.

We're also making our city more livable and, just as importantly, more affordable for working class people by helping New Yorkers get on a pathway to a good paying career job. This Council and I have cut the unemployment for Black New Yorkers four times the rate as white New Yorkers. We've cut it in half. It's less than 8 percent for the first time since 2019. I remember standing at a hiring hall in Queens with the speaker as we encouraged people to fill the jobs we have available. We're going to continue to do that, and we're going to support our small businesses with assistance for grant and loan application, business strategy, accounting, and legal services.

Transit in our city should be affordable for everyone, so we are reducing the cost of public transit for working people through our Fair Fares program. Now we know the health care costs are too high as well, and putting pressure on broken New Yorkers and family, especially in the outer boroughs. We expanded the city's Office of Health Care Accountability to ensure that hospitals and other health care providers aren't gouging New Yorkers. We are relieving thousands of New Yorkers from medical debt, as we announced earlier this year. Such an important initiative, a good investment in allowing people not to have to file for bankruptcy because of an unforeseen health care issue.

And Councilwoman Brooks-Powers, yes, trauma facility in Rockaway. Let me be clear. We are going to make sure this trauma facility is done. It's unbelievable when you think about it. The peninsula and even in parts of South Jamaica, Queens, don't have the health care facilities that they deserve, and we think this is crucial, and we will make it happen. I will be meeting with Governor Hochul, along with the speaker and Majority Whip Brooks-Powers in the near future so we can deliver health care access to the people of Rockaway Peninsula.

The city remains determined to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers among us, especially those experiencing homelessness. The budget continues our support for the Shelter to Housing Plan, funds housing assistance for homeless youth so they have access to safe and permanent housing, and protects 700 food pantries across the city, as well as support meals for food-insecure older New Yorkers.
Making our city more livable starts with making sure New Yorkers can afford to have a roof over their heads. That's why our administration, and with Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer's push and dedication and commitment, has added an additional $2 billion in capital funds to HPD and NYCHA in fiscal year '25 and '26. Let's be clear, $2 billion. These dollars will support our administration's moonshot goal of building 500,000 new homes by 2032, as well as our commitment to transforming NYCHA so every New Yorker has a clean, safe, affordable home to go to. This $2 billion will bring our investment in affordable housing over the current 10-year plan to more than $26 billion. This is a record, folks. $26 billion.

This is a budget that balances fiscal responsibility and taking care of working-class New Yorkers. We have achieved this in spite of the unprecedented challenges we have faced over the budget cycle, including budget holes caused by short-term stimulus dollars, the skyrocketing costs of caring for asylum seekers, and labor contracts that went years without being negotiated and stopped our union workers from receiving a fair wage. We're now negotiating 96 percent of all city labor contracts and 100 percent of uniform labor contracts, we've settled.

At the same time, last fall, experts were predicting a downturn. We faced this somber reality, but we responded swiftly and strategically to stabilize the city's fiscal outlook by controlling spending and staying focused on savings. We have not laid off one employee. We have not raised taxes. We used smart decisions to get it done. We got it done for New Yorkers. We did all of this without hurting everyday New Yorkers. Thanks to our prudent fiscal management, we have saved $380 million over fiscal year '24 and '25. This brings total savings in those years since last year's adoption to more than $7.9 billion before restoration. We have maintained a near-record $8.2 billion in reserves that will safeguard our city's future.

This budget represents a balance of administration's and Council's priorities, just like we said we would deliver from the beginning. Together, we will continue to build a city for working-class people that is safer, more prosperous and more livable. The popularity of our brand will turn into prosperity for every New Yorker, and no one will be left behind. An affordable city provides opportunities for all New Yorkers, opportunities for the New Yorkers that we knew, Adrienne's mom and my mom, this is what we're doing it for, and I'm proud that we did it together.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Well Eric, we have taxied to the gate. We are ready to deplane, and the council did not have to go on autopilot, sir. Thank you so much to you once again and all of the members of your administration who have engaged in this most difficult process and negotiation.

I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge and thank a few people from the council for their work throughout this process. I want to thank our Finance chair, Councilmember Justin Brannan. Our great leadership team, Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, Majority Leader Amanda Farías, Majority Whip Selvena Brooks-Powers. Councilmembers Keith Powers, Rafael Salamanca, and Sandra Ung.
I also want to thank all of the members of the Council's Budget Negotiating Team. Thank you, team. As well as the entire Finance Division staff, led by my deputy chief of staff for finance and chief financial officer, Tanisha Edwards, and the director of our Finance Division, Richard Lee. This budget and the investments we secured for New Yorkers are only possible because of your hard work and dedication as true public servants, and all the long days and nights that you all poured into it. Last but not least, I certainly want to thank members of my senior staff. Super Chief Jeremy John, Deputy Super Chief Faiza Ali, Mandela Jones, Danielle Castaldi-Micca, Meghan Lynch, Jae Ko, Danielle Porcaro, and every division and staff member of the City Council, including all Councilmembers' staff. Thank you all. I know you all are out there as well. Thank you so much.

Throughout this year's budget process, the Council has been clear-eyed about the needs of the communities we represent and what working families require to live in the city they love. As a woman majority and the most diverse Council in our city's history, representing every unique corner of this city, we understand the multitude of challenges that our communities and constituents face, the services they rely on, and what they need from city government. In my State of the City, I said, let's get back to basics. New Yorkers need an effective government so that all of us and future generations can build their legacies in our great city. That continued to be our north star for this budget, to build a strong and stable foundation for our city and for all New Yorkers. It's also important to recognize the fiscal realities we are up against. The expiration of significant pandemic-era federal funding meant we needed new funding resources to supplant the loss of federal funding. The Council also acknowledged the economic uncertainty we faced amidst new challenges that we had to confront, leading to budget gaps and the out-years that must be confronted.

Despite these challenges, we believed in the strength of this city and its resilient economy. Our Council Finance Division and its economists correctly guided us with the data regarding what to expect in terms of our economic outlook and forecasted revenues. We were clear about the challenges, but we were also clear that we have the resources to invest in New Yorkers and protect what they rely on. The families and people of this city need affordable housing and early childhood education to remain here. Our students need support to continue recovering from historic learning loss from the pandemic, and we must prioritize resources for mental health care, community safety, cultural institutions, libraries, parks, senior services, and so many other vital programs. The Council worked hard to secure investments for these priorities within this budget because they matter to New Yorkers and are irreplaceable.

We are immensely proud of the work to restore this funding. At the same time, we know there is so much more that our city and communities need. It is imperative for our city's future that the budget process moves away from restoring and towards strengthening and building. As leaders in this city, it is our responsibility to chart that path forward. Part of this agreement includes the city stepping up to fill some significant gaps from fiscal cliffs created by expiring federal stimulus gaps. This is especially true for education and early childhood education. Moving forward, our city will need additional contributions from state government to help sustain the level of funding needed for these programs. Vital programs like 3K also need help to advance our goal of universal utilization to secure a seat for any child that needs one. We cannot afford to do this work alone.

The Council left nothing on the table because we knew what was at stake. Today's budget agreement is the result of our collective work to deliver on the priorities of New Yorkers. Early childhood education has been a priority for this Council, which is made up of new parents, parents-to-be, and many of whom have very young children and children-to-be. We know how critical it is to children's development and to New Yorkers' abilities to raise their families right here.

We've taken a comprehensive approach to early childhood education by focusing on funding and fixing the system to ensure it meets the needs of our children and our families. There was a $293 million added for early childhood education between the executive budget and now, including a comprehensive plan that the Council prioritized to fund more seats to ensure all families waiting for a seat can truly get one. The plan also adds preschool education seats so that hundreds of children with disabilities can finally access their legally required seats. These are all immediate solutions.

We also knew that strengthening the early childhood education system, especially 3K, requires more than just funding. That's why we put forward strong reforms, including better outreach, converting even more seats to full day, full year, to meet the needs of working families and agreeing to a working group with the Council, the Mayor's Office, DOE, and OMB to confront challenges in the system on a granular level. This agreement charts a path to achieve a real universal system based on utilization. No longer can we simply budget for seats and let thousands sit empty when families remain on wait lists or are placed in areas that cause them to disregard the system altogether. We also secured $25 million to expand Promise NYC, the successful program to provide child care for undocumented families that are ineligible for other programs. We have the capacity to secure a seat for every child. We cannot let these valuable resources go to waste.

We know our students are still struggling to recover from historic levels of learning loss and disruptions caused by the pandemic. That's why we worked together to add and restore over $700 million in funding for education in the executive budget, and now, including for school-based social workers, school psychologists and family workers, community schools, the Learn to Work program, literacy instruction and dyslexia programming, shelter-based community coordinators, and restorative justice, among other crucial programs. Students will receive these services without interruption, which has always been a goal for this Council. To ensure our scholars have continued access to educational and economic opportunities, we prioritized restorations for CUNY's programs and funding for the overall system, including CUNY Reconnect, one of my signature initiatives, to help working-age New Yorkers return to college to complete their degrees. CUNY is an engine of economic mobility, opening pathways to opportunity. Their success is crucial for our city's future.

We're at a pivotal moment where smart investments in housing today can bring about a more affordable future. The record high levels of homelessness and evictions, compounded by the high costs of housing, underscores the urgency of building and sustaining homes for the people of our city. In this budget, we are proud to have secured $2 billion in additional funding in the capital plan over the next two years for affordable housing production, homeownership opportunities, and public housing. We are also proud to have secured baseline funding for CityFHEPS of over $500 million for the first time. This is the type of investment that New Yorkers need to live in our city and raise their families here.

New York City is the cultural capital of the world, and our cultural institutions are the pillars of our communities. I'm so thrilled to announce that we were able to secure a full restoration of $53 million for our cultural institutions. You all, we are historically baselining those funds so that we no longer have to fight for them each and every year. Our libraries are among our city's most precious resources. New Yorkers of all ages, you have spoken in every corner of our city, and you came together to protect them. We're so proud to announce today that we have successfully secured a full restoration of $58.3 million so that your full array of services is available, and yes, this funding is baselined.

Another pillar of our city is our parks and green spaces where New Yorkers gather to relax and play, and where we experience the rich intersection of so many lives. We are proud to restore $23.7 million in funding for second shift positions, for urban park rangers, tree stump removal, and the green thumb program. This will help us restore funding for the hundreds of positions lost to previous cuts, ensuring adequate staff to maintain the cleanliness and quality of our parks and key programming.

Of course, we cannot forget our older elders, who are the jewels of our communities. Our older adults need access to senior centers, home delivered meals, and other vital programs to live and age with dignity. We are proud to have secured nearly $17 million for programs that our older adults need to lead healthy and interconnected lives. We will never give up on supporting our older adults. We are on the cusp right there, aren't we? Just saying, we know what year we graduated from Bayside.

There are other investments that we're proud to have secured in this budget, but we know more funding is yet needed to expand their reach. We secured an additional $10.7 million in baseline funds for Fair Fares, which will help more working class New Yorkers access our public transit system. Residents living up to 145 percent of the federal poverty level will have access to reduced fares, a major victory for hardworking New Yorkers who rely on our subways, our buses, and one we must continue to build on.

To ensure New Yorkers are healthy and safe, we must also invest in proven solutions that address our city's mental health crisis, reduce recidivism, help crime victims recover, and stop cycles of crime. We secured important investments for justice-involved supportive housing, alternatives to incarceration, trauma recovery centers, and funding to save smaller mental health clubhouses that face the risk of closure. The city will also commit tens of millions in additional funding, as the mayor mentioned in the capital plan, for a new trauma center in the Rockaways.

The Council has consistently championed community-based safety programs that prevent violence and people from slipping into crisis. We will continue to push for more investments to meet the scale of our challenges. The budget is a year-long endeavor. Throughout this process, we've been in conversation with our constituents and advocates in our communities to deliver a budget that truly reflects the needs of New Yorkers.

It has never been a mystery who we're all fighting for. We are members, believe it or not, of the communities we represent. We look like the communities that we represent. We are our own constituents that we represent. We work and we raise our families in our own neighborhoods with those that we represent. This is personal for this Council. This is personal for this body. This is personal for City Hall. Every single win was hard-fought on behalf of our neighbors and all New Yorkers. As we move forward, we must shift from a focus on restoring to one of strengthening of programs and services that we know New Yorkers need and deserve. We will continue to serve them to the best of our ability. We will continue to serve our constituents. For if we serve our constituents, we indeed serve ourselves, our children, and generations to come. Thank you very much for your time.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Well said. Again, the Finance chair has just, you had a great Finance chair that really was focused with Jacques and the team to land the plane. We're going to continue to land the plane for the people of the city. We're going to take a few questions?

Question: Mr. Mayor, I know that you love to downplay the tension between the bodies and say you're working together. Obviously, there's been a lot to say the least. Did that get in between these budget negotiations? Is there any particular difference this year as opposed to the last year with you guys fighting over, for example, advice and consent?

Mayor Adams: Jeff, life is a lot. Anyone who lived life in this is the most complex city on the globe. These issues are very, as the speaker stated, they're personal. They are passionate. I remember at her State of the City, she was talking about Councilwoman Ayala and her personal journey. These are real issues. If you don't think when these real issues come about that there's a lot of passion in the room, and as I said throughout this entire operation, that we're going to land this plane because it's where your heart is. I know where my heart is. I know where the speaker's heart is. We can get through all of this as long as we stay focused, no distraction, and grind. Why don't you do the other, Jeff?

Question: This is for the mayor and the speaker. There has been concern from the Council about the revenue projection. I'm wondering if the speaker, how did you guys resolve that? A lot of the cuts were restored. I'm wondering how the speaker feels about, talked about restoring as opposed to building as opposed to restoring. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that. Sure.

Speaker Adams: Thanks for the question, Jeff. We rely heavily on our Finance Unit. Our economists, we believe in them. From day one, we believed in the numbers that they presented to us. We were moving faithfully with confidence by those numbers, and those numbers are what we were led by.

Mayor Adams: Let's be clear that we tell you from the beginning, and I've said this over and over again through every budget, that we have a level of fiscal conservative approach to this. I think that's the perfect balance that we have with the City Council team and with OMB and that amazing team over there. That's the balance that you have. Even when we talk about the restorations, we did over $7 billion in savings. Over $7 billion in savings. We restored $349 million out of $7 billion. $349 million was restored because what we did with the speaker's team and our team, we said, let's look at what are the top priorities. Because as the speaker announced and I said, we know that we're dealing with some serious fiscal challenges that are in front of us.

We're still getting a substantial number of migrant asylum seekers. We still have some things on the horizon. We have to be smart in doing so. $7.9 billion. Thank you. $7.9 billion. Out of that $7.9 billion, $340-something million was restored. Because these were items that we both agree this is extremely important, like the libraries, like what we have done around pre-K, 3K, and other areas. Let's put this in perspective. That we show fiscal responsibility and say let's put our city in a serious debt by restoring the entire $7.9 billion. That did not happen.

Question: Hi, mayor. Also for Jacques. I want to ask you, starting Monday, homeowners and [inaudible] I think living in New York City, their water bills are going to go up and they're [inaudible] to the Water Board. I want to just talk about how maybe that payment hasn't come since 2017. This is the largest hike in 15 years, how that anticipated money might have affected this year's budget when you were negotiating.

Mayor Adams: I'll let Jacques go into it. Let's keep in mind, we still pay a penny a gallon. My understanding, we're one of the cheapest costs for water. A penny a gallon, we're very conscious. We know that families are hurting. We want to be extremely conscious of whatever we do, that any additional cost. Jacques, do you want to?

Jacques Jiha, Director, Office of Management and Budget: Yes. It's about $350 million a year in the out-years because we have a lease with the Water Authority. Legally, they are responsible. They have to pay the city annually about $350 million.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Jiha: All these resources are added to the path of resources needed to do all the things that we're doing here.

Question: Thank you. One for the speaker, one for the mayor. Speaker, on early childhood education, there were $170 million in cuts from the PEGs. The restorations fall short of that. In the April budget response, you were demanding that whole $170 million was going to be restored. I'm wondering what ultimately made the Council decide that settling for less than that was appropriate, and how you arrived at the current level of funding sufficient? Then a separate one for the mayor.

Speaker Adams: Sure. Thank you, Chris. I'm going to let the Finance chair go into details. When you negotiate and you collaborate on certain things, there are just a lot of things that come to light that may not have necessarily been seen last April. The more we learned, the more we realized what we were actually going toward and working toward, and that is to stabilize the system. In order to stabilize the system, we've got to realize what is real and what isn't real. Goals have to be adjusted. I'm going to let the Finance chair go into details on that. It came through negotiation, through our collaboration, and just learning more about the system and the system's needs.

City Councilmember Justin Brannan: Everything that's in the Council's budget response is obviously something that we're going to fight like hell for. Some of the numbers are aspirational, that we hope to get to. In a situation like early childhood education, it was an issue of we needed to do more than just restore those cuts. We needed to be smart about it, because you have a system right now that's got a wait list and lots of vacant seats. It needs reform. It doesn't just need more money. It needs reform. I think we're sort of going to hit reset on that whole system and do pre-K, 3K 2.0 and do it right. Just throwing money at the problem wasn't going to fix it.

Mayor Adams: That was well said. Just to add, and I don't think people realize how much discipline it took and why the speaker was saying that it was about sitting down and peeling back the layers. We were paying for a huge number of seats without children in the seats. It was a brilliant idea, 3K, pre-K. It was a great idea. It was poorly executed. We were hemorrhaging millions of dollars of taxpayers' dollars. We said, wait a minute, we could use taxpayer dollars for the things that we need to do. That 2.0 is important. We have to relook at this brilliant idea that I think was rushed out. Now we're going to make sure we're going to get the product that taxpayers are paying for.

Question: On the libraries, I know you said that this budget process hasn't played out without hurting everyday New Yorkers. As you know, libraries stopped doing Sunday service late last year because of the PEGs. That's now being restored. The Council maintained all along that these cuts were never necessary to begin with. Now they're going to be reversed. Do you agree now? Were they never necessary? Was it never necessary to put the libraries through that?

Mayor Adams: First of all, Chris, I don't live my life through the rearview mirror. I live it through the front windshield. We made decisions based on the uncertainties that we were facing. Remember during that time, we were getting sometimes 4,000 migrants and asylum seekers a week. If we didn't put in place real initiative to bring down the numbers, we would be having a different conversation right now. We have 65,000 in our care, but we had 200,000 that went through the system. If we were still paying for 200,000, this would be a totally different conversation. But DM Williams-Isom made the right decisions, and we were able to bring down those numbers and find the dollars that we needed. That's why we're here right now, being able to close that $7 billion gap that we were facing. Job well done by this entire team.

Question: Two questions. Last year's budget was $107 billion. What's extra to get to $112 billion?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry…

Question: Last year's budget was $107 billion. What's the extra spending between last year and this year? Second, a question about migrants. How much money is here for migrants? How is it different from the executive budget? Can you articulate what the spending is or what the cuts are?

Jiha: Last year's budget is about $114 billion. It's not…That was back in June.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Jiha: Yes, that was back in June. Yes. Throughout the year, we make adjustments to reflect the new needs that we have. We make adjustments to reflect the fact that we have to add resources, to spend resources for the asylum seekers, to add resources for the stimulus-funded programs that were about to sunset. Throughout the year, we keep adding resources. That's what it is.

Question: …The migrant question.

Jiha: Yes. What is it?

Question: How much are you spending on migrants and how is it different from the executive budget?

Jiha: Migrants right now is about $3.7 billion… Don't forget, we instituted $2.8 billion. Don't forget, we instituted like a 30 percent PEG on the migrant budget. Okay? It was a lot more last year.

Question: What is that paying for?

Jiha: That money is paying for everything. Money is fungible. It's paying for all the programs that we just discussed here today. Okay. Sorry.

Question: Yes, I just had a question. You mentioned a $30 million increase for preschool special ed. I know, Mr. Mayor, you made a promise a while ago now that every child, every child with a disability who needed a pre-K seat would get one. Does this $30 million mean that will actually happen, or does this only get you part of the way there?

Jiha: Yes. Right now, we don't have a waiting list. This is an anticipation of a waiting list. We added $30 million to deal with the potential, okay, of people coming on a waiting list. In other words, we have already taken care of everyone on a waiting list with the resources that were added during the executive budget. We're adding another $30 million because we anticipate there's going to be a waiting list coming, okay, in the coming year. Therefore, in anticipation of that, we added resources in the budget.

Question: [Inaudible.]

Jiha: Yes. Yes. Every child and every seat will get a seat. That's a commitment that we make.

Question: Hi. Yes. Question for the speaker and the mayor. This seems to be a particularly difficult budget negotiation cycle. Can you speak to, was that your expectations? We seem to be cutting in very close. Did you expect it to be so fraught this time around?

Speaker Adams: Thank you, Kelly. A couple of ways to look at this. Yes, we knew that it was going to be challenging. We didn't know how challenging it was going to be, though. This Council needed all of the time that we took to make sure that we got this right and to make sure that we got what New Yorkers needed from us. Yes, we took the time that we needed, but as we have always maintained, we knew our goal was always to pass a budget on time.

Mayor Adams: Pilots are not defined by the turbulence they go through. They're defined by how well they land the plane. I've never heard anyone yell at the pilot about the turbulence. They are told how well you land the plane. No matter what you say about the turbulence in the sky, we landed the plane.

Question: Two questions. First for Jacques. Sorry if you already said this, but the $349 million in restorations, is that of multiple fiscal years?

Jiha: Over the budget cycle. Over the cycle, yes. $349 million. In this budget, it's about $77 million.

Question: For either the mayor or the speaker, the new $2 billion in housing capital money, it's my understanding that the Progressive Caucus had asked for some of the new money to be more in terms of preservation of existing units, but this is going to fund a large part of new construction. Can you just talk about how the decision was made to allocate the new money going to HPD?

Councilmember Brannan: $2 billion in housing capital is historic, no matter how you look at it. There were a couple of programs that a number of our colleagues were focused on, and investments were made into those programs. We're looking at the big picture holistically. $2 billion in capital, including tons of money towards NYCHA, is historic. It's a great commitment from the administration, and now it's a matter of start getting people in homes.

Question: Real quick, is a hiring freeze still in place? If so, why is that continuing? Then also, in terms of the funding that was restored, I guess it's more for the speaker and the Finance chair, how much of the Council's priorities were addressed with that?

Mayor Adams: Just the hiring freeze, we still have the two for one, but those critically-needed agencies and entities, they have a waiver. We know we want to really fill those jobs, and that's why we're doing the hiring halls with not only city agencies, but also our private entities, and we're seeing a real result because of that. We want folks to apply for the jobs. City services really need New Yorkers to be part of our public service pool.

Speaker Adams: We are very happy to say that all of the Council's priorities that were presented in negotiation have been restored, fulfilled.

Question: Two questions for me. Is there anything in this budget that will go towards increasing budget transparency? Slash, are there any new units for appropriation? Then secondly, any additional funding for CityFHEPs from the executive budget?

Jiha: Yes. Yes, there are new units of appropriation. I can't give you the exact number. I don't remember. It's from the top of my head. CityFHEPS, as I said, we added some $500 million throughout the cycle to CityFHEPS. CityFHEPS is the highest level ever at this moment in time. It's the highest number ever. Thank you.

Speaker Adams: What Jacques didn't mention was that that's baselined.

Mayor Adams: Okay. All right. Thank you.

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