Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams reached a handshake deal on Friday on a more than $111 billion budget that would reverse most of the cuts the mayor has pushed through in recent months, sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
The two men, who have been at odds over the increasingly bitter election, are scheduled to shake hands to finalize the 2025 budget agreement at a 2 p.m. event, according to people familiar with the matter.
Their handshake will set the council up for a vote before the July 1 deadline.
If approved, the spending plan would significantly exceed the $107 billion council members approved for this fiscal year.
The full extent of the reversal has yet to be released, but the mayor and chairman on Thursday night touted the restoration of $58 million in funding to the library.
The budget also restores funding for the 3-K program, though sources were unclear how much of it will be restored.
Other repairs include $53 million for the city’s cultural institutions, $19.6 million for the Department of Education’s “Summer Rising” program and $14 million for community schools, according to the sources.
Many lawmakers and activists were outraged by the mayor’s insistence that the budget cuts were necessary to plug a multi-billion-dollar immigration crisis.
“It took a while, but I think it was inevitable that the mayor would reverse the budget cuts once both sides agreed the city’s revenue projections were much better than originally expected,” said City Councilman David Carr (R-Staten Island).
The budget also includes $2 billion in new spending on housing, sources said.
“The budget bill is likely to be voted on in Parliament on Sunday,” the source said.
The setback in the library’s budget came as no surprise to Minority Speaker Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), who was facing a reduction in service to five days a week due to the mayor’s budget cuts.
He characterized the high-profile academic debate as “the same dance as last year.”
“One, two, three, four. Financial collapse, rebuttal, press conference, found money, compromise, cha-cha-cha,” he said.
