Thanks a billion, Joe … er, make that four billion!
The Biden administration’s spiraling migrant crisis could cost New York City taxpayers $4.2 billion by the middle of next year — more than doubling Mayor Eric Adams’ recent worst-case scenario.
The staggering sums to be spent through June 30, 2024 — the end of fiscal 2024 — are referenced in an internal City Hall memo obtained by The Post on Tuesday.
In it, the Office of Management and Budget said that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to give the city $1 billion in migrant aid over two years would cover less than 30% of shelter costs.
The OMB also warned that the record $227 billion budget plan Hochul unveiled last week would slash overall state aid to the city by $461 million in fiscal 2024 — and by $1.34 billion in fiscal ’25.
Hochul’s proposed budget “poses challenges to the city if enacted as written, particularly because the city’s financial position has already been strained by the Migrant Crisis,” according to the OMB memo.
Hizzoner initially pegged the price tag for the migrant crisis at $1 billion when he declared a state of emergency in October before increasing that amount to “anywhere from $1.5 to $2 billion” last month.
But Adam’s record $102.7 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2024 didn’t include any specific spending on the migrant crisis, promoting state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to criticize the mayor for failing to account for “the anticipated recurring costs.”
The OMB memo, first reported by Politico, said that Hochul’s pledge to provide $373 million in migrant aid for fiscal 2023 and another $623 million in fiscal 2024 would cover just 29% of the city’s spending on housing alone.
Those figures suggest the total cost of the migrant crisis would be nearly $3.5 billion.
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But City Hall said Tuesday that Adams’ administration actually plans to spend $1.4 billion on migrants in fiscal 2023 and $2.8 billion in fiscal 2024, for a total of $4.2 billion.
Under Hochul’s plan, the cost of the migrant crisis would be evenly split three ways between the city, the state and the federal government — which has so far allocated less than $8 million of the $1 billion Adams is seeking from President Biden’s administration.
On Sunday, The Post exclusively revealed that the city has been paying for bus tickets that take migrants to upstate Plattsburgh, from where they travel north in taxis and vans and illegally cross into Canada.
Several migrants told The Post they were abandoning Gotham to seek better job opportunities and improved quality of life in the Great White North.
More than 44,700 migrants have flooded into the city since the spring, with more than 28,800 housed in 88 emergency shelters, according to the latest official estimates.