Tentative NYC Budget Deal Restores Library, Museum and Some Parks Cuts

The mayor and City Council have a June 30 deadline to agree on the multibillion dollar blueprint that fuels the city’s finances.

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• The Roosevelt Island Daily News

Jun 27 9:18pm EDT

Community advocates rally at City Hall against proposed budget cuts, June 20, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

The City Council and the mayor’s office are set to shake hands Friday on a more than $111 billion budget, which restores funding to city libraries and reverses some previous cuts to the Parks Department, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The fiscal year 2025 budget restores more than $58 million to the city’s three library systems — which could allow for Sunday service to return — and another $53 million for other cultural institutions, like museums, according to Speaker Adrienne Adams and Mayor Eric Adams.

The new budget also adds $15 million in more permanent funding dedicated to parks maintenance and cleaning jobs at 100 “hot spots” at 61 parks across the city that are known to need more attention, those people said. 

The deal will formally be announced Friday, and it’s unclear how much more the budget total will be beyond a projected $111 billion from the mayor’s proposed executive budget released in April.

Negotiations came just days before a June 30 midnight deadline, and caps the end of another round of budget negotiations some described as “contentious.” 

Throughout the year, the council and Adams had multiple public disputes, including the council overriding his vetoes on public safety bills and a measure to expand rental vouchers.

The mayor, though, repeatedly said that he and the council speaker would “land the plane” and agree on a budget, just as they’ve done twice since 2022. 

On Thursday, he again said to “let the process go through,” but predicted “success” on a budget deal.

Speaker Adams, who leads the Council and worked years ago as a flight attendant, alluded to turbulence last week.

“We’re in a holding pattern, we’re circling the airport and if possible there will be a diversion,” she said at an unrelated press conference.

They were both in agreement in a press release Thursday about the restored funding for libraries and cultural institutions. 

“The council has consistently championed funding restorations for these institutions as a top priority, and we’re proud to reach an agreement with Mayor Adams and the administration to successfully secure these critical investments for them in the city budget,” Speaker Adams wrote.

One of the biggest issues during negotiations was differences over revenue projections, with the Council having a much rosier assessment of the city’s finances than City Hall’s estimates. Council finance experts said for months that the mayor’s cuts are unnecessary — and a few council members told THE CITY the restoration of those cuts proves their point. 

A report from The Fiscal Policy Institute first reported by City & State found the City Hall’s budget revenue projections are recently “unreasonably pessimistic,” leading to billions in “unjustified” cuts. 

Council members over the last month have rallied for more money for parks, libraries, and pre-K and 3-K, bringing large crowds of supporters and advocates to City Hall steps 

On Thursday, before the tentative agreement, Council finance committee chair Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn) evoked an old Mets’ motto when speaking to THE CITY about budget negotiations: “Ya gotta believe.” 

A Thousand Cuts

The budget fight has taken place over multiple rounds, with the mayor releasing various drafts of a budget over the past few months.

The mayor’s executive budget from April undid many of the cuts he put in place in a November proposal, crediting the reversals to unexpected increases in tax revenue and savings from trims over the previous year. 

Agencies and institutions still decried the cuts that remained, with the Queens, Brooklyn, and New York public library systems slashing service and closing all branches on Sundays. 

Mayor Adams last week again defended his administration’s budget tightening, saying the cut in Sunday service was a choice by the libraries.

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“We didn’t call for libraries to be closed on Sunday,” he said. “That’s the soundbite that people have embraced. That was not our decision to close libraries on Sundays.”

But the three systems say ending Sunday service was a move forced by a huge reduction in their budgets, according to library representatives, with few alternative options.

The council will vote on the new tentative budget on Sunday, officials said.

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