New York City Council passes budget, but not without criticism

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The New York City Council voted to pass a fiscal year 2024 budget by a vote of 39 to 12, despite many of those who voted in favour, even Speaker Adrienne Adams , expressed some disappointment with the final result.

The council approved a package of bills for an expenditure budget of $107 billion, as well as revenue, contract and capital budgets. The budget bills passed just before the deadline, with the city’s fiscal year beginning July 1.

Board members Alexa Avils, Charles Barron, Tiffany Cabn, Carmen De La Rosa, Jennifer Gutirrez, Shahana Hanif, Ari Kagan, Chris Marte, Sandy Nurse, Chi Oss, Lincoln Restler and Kristin Richardson Jordan voted against the budget, most of them rejecting the level of spending cuts. Kagan, the only Republican to vote against the budget, declined to explain his vote.

The vote came a day after Mayor Eric Adams and Speaker Adams shook hands on a budget deal for the upcoming fiscal year that the president said wasn’t perfect. The mayor’s initial executive budget proposal included a new round of cuts to nearly every city agency, which he justified by citing the need to pay new costs, including labor contracts and migrant housing, while preparing for an uncertain fiscal future. The city council fought to reverse many of those cuts, but most of the cuts worth $4.7 billion, according to the mayor, were incorporated into the final budget the council voted on Friday.

With many progressive groups calling on council members to vote against the budget, Speaker Adams defended her decision to reach a compromise with City Hall, noting that a late budget could have hurt the city’s bond rating and its ability to borrow. Moving forward with a non-negotiated budget (which the mayor would veto) could also jeopardize everything we’ve won in this fight, she added.

The speaker highlighted potential cuts the council was able to reverse through negotiations with the mayor, including funding for public library systems, meals for the elderly and public higher education. The final budget also preserves the bulk of funding for the Department of Education, which at $31.5 billion will be maintained at roughly the same level as funding for the current school year, a significant jump from compared to the $30.6 billion figure originally offered by Adams in April.

Even though Speaker Adams celebrated the undoing of some of the proposed cuts, she didn’t exactly hide her disappointment at the final budget on Friday or when the deal was announced with Mayor Adams on Thursday. Some noticed a more low-key handshake between the president and the mayor during Thursday’s address. I have never in my life seen a more reluctant handshake from a speaker, Barron said on Friday, while explaining his vote against the budget and urging his colleagues to follow suit. I think she only gave him three fingers, she didn’t even give him the whole hand. Barron, a black radical socialist and reliable council member, lost re-election to community organizer Chris Banks earlier this week.

While many members acknowledged that some funding had been restored, those like Barron who voted against the budget cautioned against celebrating the undoing of cuts they say should never have been on the table first.

When this organization should have devoted our energy to serving our neighbors, we have been forced to defend them against an executive who is waging a campaign of fear.

bargaining and division, Oss said. Malcolm X said if you stick a knife nine inches into

my back and pull it six inches, that’s not progress. I’m not thanking that mayor for those six thumbs.

The austerity imposed by the mayor is too disruptive for me to endorse, Hanif added.

Council members who opposed the budget also complained that they received the budget documents without much time to review them. That budget was handed to us 10 minutes ago, Barron said in a first Finance Committee vote on Friday morning. Cabn, who also voted no, said the late arrival of the documents meant she didn’t have nearly enough time to properly review the budget before she was called to vote on it. The budget documents were only uploaded online for public access after Friday’s vote ended. As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, only two documents detailing funding in capital and expenditure budgets had been uploaded. A city spokesperson said some documents would not be uploaded until Monday.

Even some of those who ultimately voted in favor of the budget expressed disappointment with the end result. From the moment the draft budget was released, we knew it would be a difficult cycle, Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers said before voting to approve the budget.

There are political incentives for progressive members to vote against the budget. A coalition of progressive organizations, including the Working Families Party and Make the Road New York, called on members to vote no ahead of the vote and showered praise on Twitter for those who did.

Council members who voted no on the budget can expect less favorable treatment from the speakers bureau, but subtly. Last year, the six board members who voted against the budget had their names omitted from the Schedule C budget allocating discretionary funding, even though the nonprofits they submitted to the speaker still received money. Generally, however, Adams is not seen as a particularly punitive speaker, and members who voted no last year have still been able to push bills through.

Those who voted against the budget this year left an impression of less opposition than last year, with the speaker herself expressing her own displeasure with the end result.

While councils have focused this year on restoring cuts to essential services, our city must move away from this harmful budget approach, Speaker Adams said during the council meeting. We must move forward with a view to expanding what New Yorkers need, not what they can do without.

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