Throughout his tenure as mayor, New York City Mayor Eric Adams continuously slashed the city’s budget, reallocating the funds from desperate city departments, such as libraries, public schools and even police, to deal with other issues. Lack of funding hurts all New Yorkers, and the budget cuts must be reversed.

On March 4, the New York City Council once again pushed Adams to reverse the budget cuts to libraries, 3-K, pre-K services and other essential departments.

“There remain key agencies and service areas affected by the Administration’s repeated cuts that are foundational to meeting the needs of New Yorkers,” the council said in an opening statement.

The reversal was supported by the council’s announcement which stated that Adams had underestimated the city’s tax revenue by roughly $3 billion. Thus, the budget and its allocation should be re-evaluated.

The budget cuts have been widely unpopular among New Yorkers as the effects were felt city-wide in areas like education, social services and product affordability. In response, Adams reassured his constituents that despite facing challenges such as battling the migrant crisis, outstanding labor costs and ongoing recovery from the pandemic, his administration made “strong fiscal decisions to navigate us to prosperity.”

However, many New Yorkers remain dissatisfied with Adams’ performance and, along with the city council, wish to see the budget cuts reversed. Adams should comply and reallocate funds to the services to the city’s key services.

“What we are saying is, let’s try to maintain as many of the city services as we can intact because people really depend on those services,” Councilwoman Diana Ayala said.

By continuously taking funds away from education, social services and sanitation to funnel into overfunded departments like the NYPD, Adams not only hurts his chances at gaining support but more importantly, creates unfavorable living conditions for New Yorkers.

Despite promising not to implement any more cuts, Adams announced another round of budget cuts on March 12, which will force libraries to be open only five days a week, cutting hours and services yet again.