While Mayor Eric Adams’ Preliminary Budget presents a balanced fiscal year 2025 proposal, CBC’s “Don’t Step Off the Cliff” reveals that fiscal year 2025 planned spending is $3.6 billion short of what would be needed to fund the current level of programs and expenses.  

Planned spending in fiscal years 2026 to 2028 also is not sufficient to maintain current services. If funds needed to maintain service levels were added, budget gaps would be $9.1 billion in fiscal year 2026 and $9.8 billion in fiscal year 2028. 

Mayor Adams made important and welcome progress improving budget transparency and accuracy by adding funds for Carter Cases, student transportation, and charter schools—areas of chronic underbudgeting—to fiscal years 2025 to 2028. Still, many fiscal cliffs and underbudgeted programs continue.

The magnitude that ongoing programs are underfunded has reached critical levels. This should stop. The Mayor took important first steps. And the City should build on that progress and finish the job. Only when the budget is transparent—and completely and accurately funds the City’s planned programs—will the clear prospect of a fiscal reckoning encourage City leaders, both the Executive and the City Council, to make the hard and wise choices needed to prioritize key, impactful programs and increase government efficiency.  

CBC finds that the fiscal year 2025 shortfall—due to the City and federal fiscal cliffs and chronically underbudgeted programs—includes: 

• $704 million for CityFHEPs;  
• $200 million for homeless shelters;   
• $65 million for Early Intervention;  
• $60 million for Community Schools;  
• $95 million for Pre-K Special Education; and 
• $655 million to fully fund expected overtime and uniformed agencies. 

To be fully transparent and stabilize the budget, the Administration should:  

• Implement an Executive Budget PEG to further reduce planned spending;  
• Fully fund underbudgeted and fiscal cliff programs to the extent resources are available, or explicitly identify which ones will be shrunk or eliminated; and  
• Maintain balance in the fiscal year 2025 budget, as required, and present budget gaps that account for all planned programs for fiscal years 2026 through 2028.  

  Finally, the City Council should ensure that its proposals for added or modified spending are affordable based on first fully funding or reducing the current set of planned programs.