Dear New Yorkers,

My office released a new analysis of Mayor Adams’s preliminary budget and its impact on City services. What we learned was troubling.

My team found shortsighted cuts to vital City services and programs like CUNY, libraries, and alternatives-to-incarceration, and more.

While it was recently announced that a third round of Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) cuts this fiscal year were canceled, our new report looks at some of the agencies that weren’t spared from budget cuts—many of which have seen measurable declines in the quality or quantity of service they are able to deliver to New Yorkers.

For example, our libraries.

While Mayor Adams paused further budget cuts to libraries, previous cuts from last autumn have not been restored. The remaining 5% cut in the operating subsidy given to our library systems saves the City a meager $24 million—yet will have impacts for years to come, as shown below.

Libraries strengthen community connections and provide New Yorkers with critical access to knowledge, resources, high-quality internet, entertainment, and programming. Current and future cuts will have an outsized impact on New Yorkers’ daily lives, all without saving a meaningful amount of money or seriously addressing the fiscal risks NYC faces. In fact, 0% of libraries will be open seven days a week in 2024.

Instead of making shortsighted budget cuts to City services, we need budget discipline. What if we confronted areas of overspending head-on?

For example, money paid to settle due process claims for students with disabilities has skyrocketed in recent years. Costs grew from $131 million in 2012 to over $1 billion in 2023.

Where are these exorbitant costs coming from?

The Department of Education (DOE) is often unable to provide students with special needs the services they are legally mandated to receive. Parents are then forced to find private providers because DOE does not provide enough specialists, especially in lower income, Black and Hispanic districts. There is little oversight over these providers, with DOE required to pay for services that are often many times the cost of City employee rates.

It doesn't have to be like this. With stronger management, DOE could get costs under control.

Making greater investments in service provision, applying better scrutiny of a growing list of providers, and reducing the burdensome backlog of cases can all contribute to better management of DOE due process claims spending—and the considerable risk it poses to our City budget.

Read our new report on Mayor Adams’ preliminary budget cuts.

Thanks,

Brad