The Big Apple can’t afford to hand over the $500 million a year that Gov. Kathy Hochul wants taxpayers to pitch in to help bail out the financially floundering MTA, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday, noting the migrant crisis and Albany-imposed school class size mandate that are already breaking the city’s piggy bank.
“A half a billion dollars is a lot of money, particularly when you look at in 2025, we’re going to hit a fiscal cliff!” Hizzoner declared during an interview with Fox 5’s “Good Day New York.”
“We are in a financial crisis, and I have to be fiscally prudent to navigate us throughout this turbulent period,” he added.
Hochul wants City Hall to fork over $500 million annually to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Access-a-Ride service as part of her $1.6 billion agency recuse package.
The proposal also includes a MTA payroll tax – which applies to large Big Apple and suburban employers – slated to generate roughly $800 million annually.
She’s also banking on a $1.5 billion haul of proceeds from the anticipated awarding of the three downstate casino licenses.
But Adams said the city is in no position to be shelling out more cash, as it’s in the middle of begging both President Biden and Hochul to provide funding for the multibillion-dollar migrant crisis and has to soon comply with a state-mandated order to shrink class sizes in city classrooms.
His newly released $102.7 billion budget plan for fiscal 2024 includes several belt-tightening measures, like cuts to essential services and the elimination of vacant positions in city agencies.
“That is too much money to be part of New York City’s budget. New York City has taken a hit, and what is even more troubling, no other municipality in the state is being asked to make that contribution to the MTA system,” he said.
“I’m just not clear on why, but we’re going to sit down and have a conversation with the governor, that I believe understands what New York City has been going through.
