Mayor Adams has migrant budget problems. City Council resists his cuts.

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today’s that Cole Galinas actually is a columnist at the New York Post and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. One smart lady, Nicole. The budgets are out in the New York City, the budgets around in New York State. The governor has spoken, tell us what this all means.

0:21 Speaker 2 Sure, good morning, John, thanks for having me on again. Well, the mayor and the governor are somewhat at odds with what they’re saying. The mayor, in presenting the city budget is acting as if things are a lot better than they were in November. So last November, which is not all that long ago, it’s only two months ago, he

0:39 was saying, we’re in a major crisis. We’re not going to be able to add new police classes. We’re going to close the libraries on both weekend days instead of just Sundays. We’re going to cut all kinds of after school program. So he kind of painted a picture of a dire situation. Now two months later, he’s saying things

0:59 are miraculously better. The city tax revenues are coming in better than expected. He doesn’t have to cut the police, only the libraries have to be closed on Sundays, not both weekend days. But the governor is telling a different story.

1:13 You know, the governor is saying, we’re having to eat into our reserves even though we’re not in a recession. She needs to take half a billion dollars from reserves to pay for the migrant spending. And the governor, at least to her credit, is saying that we were going to have to cut spending. She says, you know, we’ve

1:33 been increasing education and medicaid spending in particular by double double digits over the past few years, including the previous two budgets that she was responsible for, and we just can’t keep that up forever. The problem is she’s not actually doing it. You know, she’s still increasing state funded spending a little bit faster than inflation because as the

1:55 federal COVID relief money goes away, she wants to make up for that with state taxpayer money. You know, that can’t last forever. I mean, event trying to fill this federal spending with state spending rather than cut back a little bit as that federal spending goes away. That would be a better idea. But both of them agree that

2:18 the migrant crisis is not going anywhere. The city projects we’re going to have ninety thousand migrants in city shelter by the fall. That would be up from seventy thousand today. And the city projects that the migrants are not going anywhere.

2:34 We’re going to have ninety thousand migrants in city shelter indefinitely. So the city still spending at least four billion dollars a year on migrants, and the state planning to spend two and a half billion dollars a year on migrants in the next budget.

2:49 Speaker 1 Understood and tell us was did something really happen in the budgets? Was then anything different or the mayor Adams people that add up the numbers miscalculated in November?

3:07 Speaker 3 What do you think happened? What do you think the difference is?

3:11 Speaker 1 And governor and Governor Huckel said they had some antici unanticipated positives in what happened and that’s why they were better off too.

3:25 Speaker 3 Just tell us the truth. Whatever.

3:27 Speaker 2 Yeah, I think it’s more that the city was purposely trying to make things seem really bad in November because the mayor thought he would get President Biden’s attention. You know, the Mayor’s going around all last summer and so all saying migrant crisis is going to destroy the city. This is the worst fiscal situation the city has seen in decades.

3:55 In making all of these threats of cuts to basic publics, you know, not just the police, but picking up the garbage and so forth, I think the mayor thought, you know, Biden would say, well, we can’t have this. Having the big city descend into chaos would be bad for reelection against against Trump. And but and the mayor hoped Biden

4:20 would come through with billions of dollars in federal money. That hasn’t happened. The White House seems to have no interest in helping the city out with the migrant crisis. So as soon as the mayor realized Biden didn’t really care what he was saying, he kind of had a backtrack because people are blaming the mayor for all of

4:38 these service cutbacks. You know, his approval rating is at record low for any mayor, so he knew he kind of had to reverse some of his proposed cuts and show the numbers looking better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much for his own credibility. I think the governor has been more steady, you know that governor’s change and projection is

5:00 not as dramatic as the mayor’s, and the governor was not going around saying that we’re in a major crisis. And so there’s less surprises in the governor’s budgets than there were in the mayor’s. Budget understood.

5:16 Speaker 1 As far as you know. And I saw Kathy Wilde a couple of days ago, and I said, with the budget, we used. To have. Three strikes now on Rockefeller, I mean, what is it now? Is it’s fifteen, twenty twenty five. I mean, at what point do we put some of these people away, because then.

5:38 Speaker 3 They shouldn’t be living with other human beings.

5:42 Speaker 2 Right, It’s an unlimited number of strikes with many many crimes, including shoplifting. I mean they’re prosecuting recidive as shoplifters only act of dozens and dozens of arrests. You know, the governor is talking very well on crime both last week and this week in her state of state. She was very clear we can’t have random attacks like the attack

6:07 in the Grand Central Terminal that we had on Christmas Day when the two teenage girls were attacked by a mentally disturbed individual with a long arrest history. Governor’s clear that we can’t have the things in the drug stores locked up behind flexiglass. You know, that makes everybody uncomfortable.

6:25 But it’s not clear that what she proposes will fix the problem. She’s proposed more money for state police, as is the merchants lobby has pointed out state police doesn’t really deal with shoplifting crime. I mean, this is really a local police matter, and where it’s getting bogged down is not in policing. It’s getting bogged down into prosecution

6:50 and the incarceration. So unless she can kind of change some of the DA’s minds on prosecuting these crimes, people may say, you know, you said you were going to fix the problem and you didn’t. But at least to her credit, she said she’s going to work on fixing the problem. So if we know who to hold responsible

7:08 if she doesn’t, which is.

7:09 Speaker 1 Her understood, anything else you want to tell the New Yorkers And.

7:16 Speaker 3 Now I’m going to be able to bring back New York.

7:21 Speaker 2 I mean I would just point out on the budget cuts. You know, the libraries started closing on Sundays in December. It’s not very expensive to keep the libraries open seven days a week.

7:32 Speaker 3 I mean, you know, change, isn’t it.

7:35 Speaker 2 Yeah, And so to cut the libraries hours to save a miniscule amount of money, I think there’s something like twenty three million, it really sends the wrong message. I mean, you have if you have Orthodox Jewish children who can’t they can’t go to the library on Saturday, at least not if they want to use the computers, then they can’t.

7:57 They won’t be able to go on Sunday because the libraries are closed up on Sunday. And also, you know, other children, maybe their parents are working on Saturday. Maybe they want to go to the library both weekend days.

8:07 You know, these are very important resources for parents and children as well as elderly adults. And so, you know, for the mayor to say everything is all better, but we’re still going to keep the libraries closed on Sunday, it’s maybe not the best sign to send to people.

8:24 Speaker 1 Yes, Nicoles Alinas, thank you for bringing everybody up to date, and God bless you.

8:30 Speaker 3 And I pray for New York and I love.

8:32 Speaker 1 New York and I hope we continue to be able to continue to live here in a civilized world.

8:38 Speaker 3 Thank you so much, me

8:39 Speaker 2 Too, Thank you, John Talk to you later Bye,