| | | | |  | | By Emily Ngo, Jeff Coltin and Nick Reisman | Presented by Healthcare Education Project | With help from Jason Beeferman
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Mayor Eric Adams reversed budget cuts to FDNY and NYPD services on Wendesday | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office. | NEW YORK MINUTE:
It’s De-Trumpification Day in the Bronx. The Trump Links at Ferry Point golf course sign has been replaced by a sign bearing the name of the new operator, casino company Bally’s. That move has enough political punch that Mayor Eric Adams is planning to give remarks at the ceremony. But there’s some irony in New York’s bluest borough: The district including the golf course just elected the Bronx’s first Republican City Council member in 50 years. BUDGET BACKTRACK: Adams has been checking his math — and his couch cushions. He is reversing deeply unpopular cuts to NYPD and FDNY funding that he had announced in November as means of offsetting the cost of sheltering migrants, POLITICO reports. How? “Strong fiscal management” and “better than anticipated tax revenues,” Adams told reporters Wednesday. (The restoration amounts to just $37 million of the $3.7 billion he ordered in agency cuts in the fall — the price of improving the hit he took in popularity.) But really, how? Adams officials declined to divulge key fiscal details about the city’s budget landscape. They did lower the projected cost of managing the influx of migrants. The total price tag has shrunk to around $10 billion from $12 billion through the summer of 2025, according to a new calculation from City Hall. The overall budget picture remains hazy. The November spending reductions, for example, were already insufficient to close a projected $7 billion budget gap for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. “It’s great they are reducing migrant spending and revenues are strong,” said Andrew Rein, head of the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog. “But there should be no illusion here. The city still needs to reduce planned spending significantly to truly close next year’s budget gap and stabilize the future.” The budget restorations had the City Council crowing on Wednesday. Council Finance Committee Chair Justin Brannan knocked the mayor’s math skills and negotiating prowess. “The mayor is doing a budget dance with himself, and his rhetoric is out of step with the math,” Brannan said in a statement. “All of a sudden, the mayor has found money, with irrationally shifting explanations and numbers, cutting into the credibility of his narrative that the city has an insurmountable budget gap that demands overly broad cuts.” Historically, mayoral budget projections are more conservative than Council ones. The forecast the Council released in December showed about $1.2 billion more in revenue than the mayor’s estimate. And Brannan predicted in November that NYPD cuts would be restored once the revenue stream was more closely scrutinized. On Wednesday, Adams announced his change of plans alongside his police and fire commissioners, saying that a new class of 600 police recruits can join in April and a fifth firefighter can return to 20 FDNY engine companies. Asked whether funding would also be restored to library, school and other social service programs, the mayor teased the Tuesday unveiling of his executive budget. “We still have a massive budget gap in fiscal year 2025, and on Tuesday we’ll talk more in depth about our steps to closing it,” he said. “We need help from the federal and state government.” — Emily Ngo and Joe Anuta HAPPY THURSDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project: All New Yorkers deserve equal access to quality healthcare, no matter their income or ZIP code. Yet today, Medicaid pays New York’s hospitals 30% less than the actual cost of care. Medicaid underpayments have already caused deep cuts to mental health services and maternity care. It’s an injustice. Families just want care and fear that this crisis could force their hospital to close. Albany: It’s time to step up and end the Medicaid funding crisis. | | | WHERE’S KATHY? Making a mental health announcement in the Bronx. WHERE’S ERIC? Speaking at the unveiling for changing the name of Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point to Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point, appearing on ABC’s “GMA3,” hosting a roundtable discussion with Queens Jewish community leaders and delivering remarks at the Russian American Officers Association’s 2024 Holiday Gala. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This is the law, they have to comply and we’re ready to go to court.” — City Councilmember Diana Ayala on the Adams administration declining to implement laws expanding access to a rental assistance voucher.
|  | ABOVE THE FOLD | | | |  Brooklyn's James Madison High School received migrants late Tuesday night, causing the high school's students to take classes remotely on Wednesday. | Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office | | FLOYD BENNETT FALLOUT: New York City has again provided catnip to far-right agitators. The scurry this week to move migrants from a Brooklyn tent complex to a nearby high school to wait out a storm meant the temporary displacement of students, who spent Wednesday learning remotely. It was a logistical decision Adams officials said they made to keep people living and working at Floyd Bennett Field safe amid high winds and floods. But influential conservative players pounced on the opportunity to escalate the political war over border control. “Dems prioritize illegal migrants over our youth’s education,” Newsmax blasted. “Migrant relocation forces NY students to go remote,” Fox News described, playing it straighter. James Madison High School itself was subjected to “a torrent of hate calls and even a bomb threat,” the city’s Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said. Locally, in the politically moderate Midwood section of Brooklyn, parents were also up in arms. The mayor and his aides said they’re keeping their head down and doing what they can to shelter, clothe and feed nearly 70,000 migrants around the city with limited federal support. Iscol noted that Floyd Bennett Field is what the federal government provided as an emergency housing site. Adams visited Madison High School where about 2,000 migrants, including children, slept where they could huddled on the floor and on chairs. He said the school staff wanted to help “because they saw children as children.” The mayor added of those targeting migrants and New York with vitriol: “Don’t let the fringe groups hijack who we are as a city.” — Emily Ngo
| | CITY HALL: THE LATEST | | | | 
Mayor Eric Adams has sought more state aid to help him comply with a 2022 state law to reduce class sizes. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office | FIRST CLASS PROBLEMS: As the state Legislature begins to deliberate on whether to extend mayoral control of the nation’s largest school system ahead of the policy’s June 30 expiration, lawmakers’ concerns that Adams may circumvent a costly state law requiring smaller classes in public schools are starting to take center stage, POLITICO reports. “Class size is very important to the conference,” said state Sen. Jabari Brisport, a former teacher whom Adams worked to unseat two years ago. “I think it would definitely hurt the odds of extending mayoral control if the (class size) reductions are not enacted.” Adams has been pleading with the state to provide more funding to help him comply with a 2022 law to reduce classes to 20 to 25 students, depending on the grade, by 2028. Implementing that measure, a priority of the city teachers union, would require the mayor to hire 10,000 to 12,000 new teachers at a cost between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion annually, according to city estimates. To Adams’ dismay, elected officials included the mandate in the final deal granting him a two-year extension of mayoral control in 2022. This year, the mayor — who has said securing a lengthy extension is a top priority — is planning to flag his reservations about the new rules for legislators. — Madina Touré More from the city: — Lifting a decades-old cap on street vending licenses could raise millions for the city — but vendors would have trouble finding legal spots to sell. (Streetsblog) — An empty East Village school building that sparked 25-year feud — and that Bill de Blasio wanted to redevelop — finally sold for $57 million. (Crain’s) — In a new Netflix documentary, Adams promotes not taking medication for diabetes and adopting a plant-based diet instead — a potentially dangerous recommendation. (Vice)
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project:   | | | | | NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY | | |  State Attorney General Tish James wants a federal probe into how military-made ammunition ends up in civilian markets. | Seth Wenig/AP | AMMO PROBE: New York Attorney General Tish James is pushing for a federal investigation into how military-produced ammunition can wind up on the civilian market. James’ office is leading a coalition of 20 attorneys general urging the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to investigate reports of ammo produced by the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant that ended up available for civilians to buy. “The continued sale of this ammunition on the private market puts everyone at risk,” James said. The effort comes as James’ office is separately pursuing a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association over claims the gun-rights group defrauded members. — Nick Reisman SECURITY BOOST: Jewish day schools across New York, New Jersey and Florida plan to increase school security spending, according to new survey data from Teach Coalition, the state government advocacy organization arm of Orthodox Union. Before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the average respondent said they spent $215,560 annually, or $598 per pupil, on security. Following the attack, the average respondent said they’ll increase spending by $100,383, or $256 per pupil. Florida schools said they would increase spending by $115,383, New Jersey schools by $45,646 and New York schools by $110,227. Half of the 150 member schools that Teach Coalition represents responded to a survey conducted between Oct. 25 and Dec. 18. — Mackenzie Wilkes More from Albany: — A Westchester County town’s election system dilutes the power of the Hispanic vote, according to the first lawsuit filed under a new state Voting Rights Act. (Gothamist) — State officials this year are developing a plan for the social, political and economic impact of a large population of older people in New York. (LoHud) — Waving one’s hand over an ill-placed sensor is all that’s needed to get past a new set of $700,000 subway gates the MTA is testing to crack down on fare-beating. (New York Post)
| | KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION | | | 
In a letter to MTA brass, Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan said congestion pricing is unfair and uninformed. | Mary Altaffer/AP | INDIGESTION PRICING: Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan ripped the coming congestion pricing plan’s potential impact on Hudson Valley residents in a letter to top MTA officials. Ryan’s letter, obtained by Playbook, blasted the lack of MTA options for people who live in Ulster, Orange and Dutchess counties and called for Hudson Valley hearings on the pricing plan’s impact on his constituents. “It’s unfair, uninformed, and unacceptable, and everything that’s wrong with New York City’s approach to policy making outside the 5 boroughs,” Ryan said in a statement. It’s a concern that was echoed by Transport Workers Union President John Samuelsen. “Public sector workers who must go into the congestion pricing zone to do their job should receive a discount, not be penalized for providing a public service,” he said. In the letter to MTA Chair Janno Lieber, Ryan argues Hudson Valley residents should not be required to “subsidize MTA transit upgrades in New York City.” Ryan wants exemptions to the toll for people like commuting first responders and agriculture producers making deliveries. “Health care professionals, teachers, farmers, and the officers at the New York City Fire and Police Departments living in my district and working in New York City will face undue financial hardship by this toll,” he wrote in the letter. The sharp criticism of the plan from Ryan underscores the potential political impact of congestion pricing for elected officials who represent the greater metropolitan area. The lawmaker is the sole House Democrat in New York expected to face a competitive general election challenge later this year. Republican Alison Esposito, a retired NYPD officer and former candidate for lieutenant governor, is running for the battleground seat. Once implemented, drivers are expected to be charged $15 for cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours. A $24 fee for small trucks and a $36 toll for large trucks would also be put in place. The MTA is conducting broad-based hearings on the issue as well as taking public comments. "The 2019 law is intended to reduce vehicle traffic into Manhattan’s congested Central Business District,” MTA spokesperson John McCarthy said in response to Ryan’s letter. “It will also result in cleaner air, safer streets, and fund improvements to the Metro-North system which is used by the vast majority of commuters who come from the mid-Hudson Valley.” — Nick Reisman
| | NEW YORK STATE OF MIND | | — A dozen public media outlets in upstate New York are banding together to form a shared network. (WAMC) — There’s something familiar about how the House races are shaping up this year. (State of Politics) — Nine community colleges in New York could be facing financial problems. (Times Union)
| | | | A message from Healthcare Education Project: Mental health services closed. Maternity wards shut. It’s happening across New York, and one of the reasons is that Medicaid underfunds hospital care by 30%. Hospitals and caregivers give all of their patients 100%, each and every day. But if Albany doesn’t fix Medicaid underpayments to hospitals, the crisis will get worse – some hospitals may not survive.
Albany can end this injustice: Stop Medicaid underpayments and help hospitals stay open. The federal government will pay more than half the cost of closing the Medicaid funding gap, so it’s a savings for New York. Albany: It’s time to step up and end the Medicaid funding crisis now. All New Yorkers need equal access to quality healthcare, no matter their income or ZIP code. | | | | | SOCIAL DATA | | MAKING MOVES: Communications and lobbying shop Kivvit has rebranded as Avoq. New York’s Tom Meara was named partner: Shea Savaria and Rachel Roseneck have been named vice presidents. … Albany-based lobbying first Ostroff Associates is expanding to Washington D.C., with founder and CEO Rick Ostroff heading the expansion. … James Reed, the former president and CEO of St. Peter’s Health Partners, was elected to MVP Health Care’s board of directors. Tammy C. Davies is now a partner in the Finance Group of Morrison Foerster based in the New York office. She most recently was of counsel for alternative lending and private credit at Paul Hastings. … Amy Caton has been promoted to co-chair the bankruptcy and restructuring practice of Kramer Levin. John Catsimatidis promoted his son John Catsimatidis Jr. to president of $7B Red Apple Group. (New York Post) HAPPY BIRTHDAY: MSNBC’s Rashida Jones … Frederic Mishkin … NBCUniversal’s Rose Wallace (3-0) … Peacock’s Caragh Fisher O’Connor … Melissa Ruffel … Blair Brandt
| | YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY | | | | 3 The number of subway derailments in the last three weeks, after an F train derailed in Brooklyn Wednesday. “It’s not a great look,” an MTA board member told The City, but the system is still safe. | | | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
