New York is the financial capital of the world and is said to be the city with the most billionaires per square meter. Just look at the power of Billionaires’ Row, the name of a group of ultra-luxury high-rise apartment buildings and the surrounding area at the foot of Central Park. But public finances are a different story and the Big Apple will have to tighten its belt to meet the costs associated with dealing with the migration crisis caused by the arrival of 120,000 foreigners since spring 2022. Political issues on the sidelines – the migrants are being sent on buses from Republican border states to put pressure on Washington – the truth is that the city has since spent more than $2 billion on housing and food for the new arrivals. The forecast is that it will cost the city more than 12 billion over the next three fiscal years.
So Mayor Eric Adams, a strange man who introduced a vegan menu on Fridays in the public school network because he claims veganism saved his life, or who celebrated his entrance into a Masonic lodge surrounded by photographers, asked for something different City administrations should examine how they can cut their respective budgets by up to 15%. Given the financial pressure of the immigration crisis, this would not be surprising if Adams had not called for cuts for the fourth time since taking office in January 2022: He ordered a reduction in government spending back in April. 4% in almost all municipal departments. Now he is asking officials to make a 5% cut in their budgets for each of the next three financial plans.
The city, required by a 1981 law called the Callahan Doctrine to provide shelter to anyone who needs it – whether a foreigner or a homeless American – has set up more than 200 emergency centers since the crisis began a year and a half ago. But shelters are at capacity and Adams never tires of calling for help. “Our compassion knows no limits, but our resources do,” he addresses his prayers to the federal government.
Scapegoats
But the city’s comptroller has warned Adams that the city needs a “real long-term” savings plan in addition to help from Washington and Albany (the state capital). “While our office will consider the proposed cuts, one thing is clear: scapegoating asylum seekers will not improve education, public safety, housing affordability, or quality of life for New Yorkers,” Brad Lander said in September.
The auditor put his finger on the sore point: the numerous existential disruptions in the millionaire city. After the urgency of the immigration crisis, the outlook is bleak: a scarce and aging public housing stock; a transportation agency that is beyond deficient, unpopular projects to charge tolls for access to Manhattan to make money while easing traffic pressure; School programs have been canceled or canceled; a partially failed attempt to cut the budget of the wonderful public network of libraries and, in short, a general cut in social spending that hurts those already suffering from the city’s prohibitive prices. Just one telling example: Prices for almost all types of child care have skyrocketed since 2017 – with working families having to pay at least $2,000 a month for child care – forcing thousands of parents to give up work to care for children take care of.
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