Mayor Eric Adams at an April 1, 2025 press convention at Metropolis Corridor.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Final week, I went again to Bayside Excessive College in Queens to ship the Fiscal Yr 2026 Government Finances — the Finest Finances Ever — in the identical place I attended highschool. My message was easy: this finances just isn’t some summary set of numbers; it’s a assertion about what we worth and the way we’re investing within the individuals of New York Metropolis — maintaining them protected, making the 5 boroughs extra reasonably priced, defending high quality of life, and ensuring that is the very best place to boost a household.
The choices we made on this finances have been guided by my very own lived expertise, and the struggles I noticed my mom undergo. She labored three jobs simply to place meals on the desk for me and my siblings — and he or she may have used a serving to hand. Put merely, our metropolis as soon as betrayed working individuals however we’ve got not allowed that to proceed beneath our administration. So that is the finances she wanted, and a million of different working-class individuals throughout this metropolis want right now. It makes actual investments within the areas working-class households care about most, together with little one care, ‘After-School for All,’ well being care, training, public security, affordability, high quality of life, and a lot extra. It’s not a finances that favors the few, it’s a finances for all New Yorkers.
Actually, it’s no exaggeration to say that our Fiscal Yr 2026 Government Finances is the Finest Finances Ever — one which provides $1.4 billion subsequent fiscal 12 months to guard vital packages that have been dealing with spending cliffs and can help all New Yorkers — regardless of their means or background. And about $675 million of these packages are baselined — which means that they’re a everlasting a part of our metropolis’s finances going ahead, 12 months after 12 months, eternally. This dedication means extra safety and stability for our metropolis, particularly in the case of areas like public security, housing, and our kids’s training.
From prioritizing entry to little one care and launching common after-school programming to investing in everlasting funding for libraries, CUNY, and public-safety and quality-of-life initiatives, this finances will defend and increase vital packages that may enhance the lives of New York households. We’re hiring extra academics, decreasing class sizes, and investing in arts training for our college students. Our new funding will even help pc science training, tutoring, instructor recruitment, Civics for All, and extra. And the very best half? These packages are all baselined. They are going to be there for you and your kids sooner or later, even when these kids are nonetheless simply chasing pigeons on the playground.
Our Fiscal Yr 2026 Government Finances additionally seems to be out for the New Yorkers who want our assist probably the most and protects companies that strengthen our communities. By fastidiously managing our metropolis’s funds, we’ve got been ready so as to add almost $840 million this coming fiscal 12 months alone to guard companies that have been dealing with finances cliffs — these embody Medicaid, rental help, foster care companies, social companies for seniors, New York Metropolis’s money help contribution, and shelters for victims of home violence.
This finances moreover locks in help for the housing packages and affordability initiatives that New Yorkers want. We’re funding creation of our “Manhattan Plan” to rezone components of the borough and unlock an further 100,000 properties for New Yorkers over the following decade. We’re additionally investing in our metropolis’s 15/15 Supportive Housing Initiative that may create and protect over 5,800 supportive properties and supply susceptible New Yorkers with a spot to name their very own, in addition to present them with entry to the social companies that construct on our work tackling homelessness and extreme psychological sickness.
All of this builds on the unparalleled file we’ve got achieved on housing, and our landmark “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan, which is able to create 80,000 new properties over the following 15 years. We’re additionally investing greater than ever in bettering our infrastructure at $173 billion that may ship on generational tasks that have been talked about for many years however by no means achieved till we got here into workplace. This consists of bettering our roads, bridges, colleges, and water and sewer amenities, in addition to supporting extra dependable transportation methods throughout the 5 boroughs.
However all of those massive plans and goals are solely potential if New Yorkers are protected and really feel protected. Public security is the muse on which our metropolis is constructed, and we’re proud New York stays the most secure massive metropolis in America. Main crime was down by double digits over the primary quarter of this 12 months, and we’re tackling quality-of-life points with a brand new 1,500-member division throughout the NYPD created solely for that function. This finances helps maintain our streets and subways protected and ensuring we’ve got sufficient males and lady to get the job executed as we put the NYPD on monitor to 35,000 uniformed officers by subsequent fall.
We all know New Yorkers work exhausting for his or her cash and that’s why we’ve got remained centered on saving taxpayer {dollars}. Our insurance policies even have set the desk for a robust native financial system. This, together with progress within the nationwide financial system, has enabled us to revise our tax income forecast upward and steadiness the finances with out chopping packages or companies, elevating taxes on New Yorkers by a single penny, or shedding hard-working metropolis workers.
This finances is a testomony to our dedication to creating New York Metropolis safer, extra reasonably priced, and the very best place to dwell and lift a household. We’re doing all of this whereas sustaining record-high reserves to assist us face something that comes our method. That is the finances my mother wanted, that my household wanted, and, with it, we’re saying to working households: your metropolis has your again.
