New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is looking to cut overtime for first responders to help pay for the illegal immigration crisis facing the sanctuary city.
In a memo from Adams’ budget director Jacques Jiha, the city’s police, fire, sanitation, and corrections agencies are asked to “submit a plan to reduce year-to-year OT spending” to City Hall as well as monthly reports that “track overtime spending and their progress in meeting the reduction target.”
[Adams] has said the migrant influx could cost the city $12 billion in the next three years and that Big Apple agencies will have to immediately come up with cuts of 5% — and possibly a total of 15% by spring — although Jia said the more draconian figure would still “only cover two-thirds of our projected asylum costs.” […]
The NYPD’s OT budget exceeded $700 million last year, and critics have long complained about high police overtime costs.
But Adams, a retired transit cop, also won election to City Hall on a pledge of restoring public safety.
The war on overtime is just one piece of an extensive plan Adams and his budget director laid out to trim spending in response to the skyrocketing costs the city has shelled out to care for the unrelenting influx of asylum seekers.
The scalpel includes a hiring freeze — except for public health and safety and “revenue producers” — but even critical positions can only be filled to replace a vacancy, not add jobs.
The departments have been told they are not to include layoffs in their proposed cuts — at least for now — but even a City Hall insider told the Post that pink slips are inevitable, given the deep cuts contemplated.
The plan also calls for a freeze on out-of-town travel except to Albany and Washington, DC, and a ban on purchasing new equipment and future and new consulting contracts. (New York Post)
Services for illegal immigrants will be affected, too, Jiha's memo said.
“We are also reducing services being provided to asylum seekers and closely monitoring these services to ensure they are being delivered in the cost efficient and cost effective manner possible,” he wrote.
Patrick Hendry, head of the Police Benevolent Association, criticized city leaders for the plan to cut overtime pay.
“It is going to be impossible for the NYPD to significantly reduce overtime unless it fixes its staffing crisis,” Hendry said, according to the New York Post. “We are still thousands of cops short, and we’re struggling to drive crime back to pre-2020 levels without adequate personnel.
“If City Hall wants to save money without jeopardizing public safety, it needs to invest in keeping experienced cops on the job," he added.
The report comes just days after Adams warned the illegal immigration crisis will "destroy" New York City.