NYC mayor to announce ‘extremely painful’ budget cuts, including NYPD hiring freeze

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to announce “extremely painful” budget cuts on Thursday that could include a hiring freeze at the New York City Police Department caused by an influx of asylum-seekers in the city.

Each city agency is expected to see a 5% budget decrease in the next round of budget cuts and another 5% decrease in January. The change to public safety is a big upset given the high crime rates in the city and the shrinking police force.

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“This is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through,” Adams said in a statement. “When you look at, around police, what the numbers of police officers are going to be and how we’ve done so well in dropping crime in our city. When we look at the school safety agents, when we look at some of the other initiatives that we’re doing, it’s going to be extremely painful for New Yorkers.”

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The administration is also expected to cut the NYPD’s next police academy class, even as it struggles to replace the nearly 3,000 uniformed officers who have retired or quit since 2019. The NYPD is also expected to reduce overtime pay.

“This is going to turn the NYPD staffing crisis into a public safety disaster,” Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry told the New York Post. “Our police officers are being worked to exhaustion, and 911 response times are already rising. What is going to happen when no reinforcements arrive for months on end? Cutting cops puts New Yorkers at risk, period.”

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Adams has claimed the migrant crisis, which has seen a flood of more than 110,000 immigrants enter the city since the spring of 2022, will cost the city $12 billion by 2025 and affect every aspect of the city. The state of New York is seeing more than 10,000 immigrants enter its largest city each month.

The mayor also renewed his call for monetary aid from Washington, D.C. Adams’s plan additionally includes a cut in services provided to asylum-seekers.