By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, members of the City Council, and senior members of the Adams administration on Friday announced an agreement on a $112.4 billion Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2025.
The balanced and on-time agreement closes a $7.1 billion budget gap, Mayor Adams noted.
On top of investments already announced in the November 2023 Financial Plan and the Preliminary and Executive Budgets, new investments in the FY25 Adopted Budget and joint priorities with the New York City Council include:
Investing in an Equitable Education for All Students
In addition to investing over $600 million in new funding to protect critical programs that were funded with temporary stimulus dollars and protect schools with declining enrollment from budget reductions, the FY25 Adopted Budget builds on recently announced investments by:
- Restoring Summer Rising extended day and Friday programming for middle school participants ($19.6 million).
- Supporting community school programming ($14 million).
- Providing free MetroCards to this summer’s Summer Youth Employment Program participants ($11 million).
- Investing in teacher recruitment efforts that are critical to meeting state mandated class-size legislation standards ($10 million).
- Continuing the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development Adult Literacy Education contracted programs ($10 million).
- Funding Restorative Justice programming designed to reduce the reliance on suspensions or punitive discipline across city schools ($6 million).
- Continuing the cross-agency Mental Health Continuum partnership to provide mental health support to all students ($5 million).
- Supporting digital learning resources for students and teachers ($5 million).
- Expanding arts education in schools ($4 million).
- Supporting tutoring for kindergarten through second grade literacy and sixth through eighth grade math education at select schools across the city ($4 million).
- Funding for immigrant family engagement to address potential communication gaps between schools and support parents who do not speak English fluently ($4 million).
- Continuing support for incorporation of LGBTQ+ inclusive topics, history, and wellness into student curricula ($2.8 million).
- Funding fee waivers for community organizations using New York City Public Schools’ space ($2 million).
- Providing resources for parent and family engagement to support New York City Public Schools’ “Family and Community Engagement” initiative, which focuses on parent empowerment and engagement ($1 million).
Supporting Libraries and Cultural Institutions
After making multiple investments in NYC’s cultural sector by allocating more than $22 million to the City Department of Cultural Affairs for the Cultural Institutions Group and Cultural Development Fund, the FY25 Adopted budget goes even further to:
- Restore the FY25 November Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) and add funding for the Cultural Institutions Group and Cultural Development Fund recipients ($53 million).
- Restore operations support funding for New York City’s libraries citywide ($58.3 million).
Making the City More Affordable
According to Mayor Adams, the FY25 Adopted Budget includes commitments to make the city more affordable and support working-class New Yorkers’ economic mobility by:
- Supporting over 700 food pantries across the city to maintain current funding levels ($31.9 million).
- Adding funding for ‘Fair Fares NYC’ and increasing the eligibility rate from 120 percent to 145 percent of the Federal Poverty Level to build on the resounding success of the program and make public transportation more affordable for even more New Yorkers ($20.7 million).
- Providing operational support to help The City University of New York (CUNY) adjust to declining enrollment ($15 million).
- Funding food and services for Older Adult Centers and Home Delivered Meals ($11.1 million).
- Supporting the Shelter to Housing Action Plan that provides staffing to connect eligible New Yorkers with legal services and help New Yorkers find and maintain stable housing ($10.1 million).
- Investing in CUNY Accelerate, Complete, Engage Program that helps students overcome barriers to graduation through academic advisement, career development, tuition scholarships, textbooks, and transportation assistance ($9.1 million).
- Continuing support for the Jobs NYC employment sprint monthly hiring halls in communities experiencing high unemployment ($2.5 million).
- Supporting legal services for New Yorkers facing wage theft and unemployment insurance hearings ($1.9 million).
- Funding housing navigators who assist runaway and homeless youth with safe and permanent housing placements ($1.6 million).
- Providing small businesses support with grant and loan applications, marketing assistance, business strategy, accounting and legal services, and digital tools ($1.5 million).
- Supporting the Brooklyn Recovery Corps at CUNY Medgar Evers College, which provides 200 students a year with internship opportunities that contribute to the ongoing economic recovery of Brooklyn and the city ($1 million).
- Funding CUNY STEM, a year-long enrichment program in Inwood to prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields ($1 million).
Keeping New Yorkers Safe and Improving Quality of Life
The Adams administration previously announced funding for three new police classes to add 1,800 additional recruits in April, July, and October classes, putting New York City on a path to have 35,000 uniformed officers in the coming years. Continuing to build on the double-digit decrease in shootings and homicides in 2023 and 2024, and the decrease in overall crime in 2025, year to date, the FY25 Adopted Budget includes upstream solutions to protect public safety and make the city more livable by:
- Funding for City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Brownsville Recreation Center demolition and construction ($160 million).
- Continuing current levels of litter basket pick-ups citywide ($25 million).
- Adding staff to complete a second cleaning shift at hotspot park locations during peak days and hours ($15 million).
- Continuing part-time security at 55 NYCHA buildings for senior residents ($6.8 million).
- Helping manage and adjudicate growth in administrative legal cases related to the crackdown on illicit cannabis sales ($4.2 million).
- Continuing support for 50 Urban Park Rangers ($4.1 million).
- Ongoing support for GreenThumb gardens with new soil, new raised beds, and other resources utilized by gardeners ($2.6 million).
- Providing additional resources for tree stump removal ($2 million).
- Funding for Civilian Complaint Review Board’s staffing ($2.1 million).
- Funding of 32 civilian positions to staff the new 116th Precinct in Southeast Queens, which is scheduled to open in October 2024 ($1.2 million).
Keeping New Yorkers Healthy
The FY25 Adopted Budget further invests in programs to help keep New Yorkers healthy by:
- Restoring the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene contracts for HIV related programs ($5.4 million).
- Expanding the Office of Health Care Accountability to bring rising health care costs down and ensure hospitals and health care providers are not gouging New Yorkers ($2 million).
- Continuing programming for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, including direct services, mental health support, youth programs, and other culturally-competent services ($5 million).
- Raising meal reimbursement rates to help the city’s contracted nonprofit home-delivered meal providers with the rising costs of food and labor ($4.8 million).
- Supporting existing Trauma Recovery Centers, which provide case management, therapy, and crisis intervention services to underserved victims of violent crime ($4.8 million).
- Replacing expiring stimulus dollars that currently support the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy staffing and food research projects ($800,000).
