The state’s top money manager cast a cold eye on President Joe Biden’s ability to secure the southern border and stop a stream of homeless migrants to New York, warning inaction may force Mayor Eric Adams to hike future spending on the crisis.
In a new report released Thursday, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli blamed lax federal immigration policies and the Biden administration’s failure to grant New York City adequate funding for a nearly 57,000 — and likely growing — migrant population.
“The lack of federal policy adjustments and a substantial matching share of funding for managing the asylum seeker influx has created an unsustainable fiscal issue for the city,” DiNapoli wrote in the 48-page document.
“Significant matching federal support does not appear to be forthcoming, and change to existing immigration policies does not seem imminent,” he added.
The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget recently revealed it is considering cutting services across the board – including free meals for migrants – to keep paying for the “thousands” on track to enter into city care.
The cost of the crisis could rise to a high of $12.25 billion over the next three years, far higher than previous projections.
OMB forecasts the city will spend $4.7 billion by June 2024, up from the previous $2.9 billion estimate, and rise to $6.1 billion by June 2025, up from $1 billion previously predicted.
DiNapoli writes that even though this year’s $112 billion spending package is balanced, the concerning trends “could ultimately lead to higher city-funded costs than projected by [Office of the State Comptroller] in those years,” wrote DiNapoli.
“New York City is the economic engine of this entire state and country. If you decimate this city, you’re going to decimate the foundation of what’s happening,” Adams declared Thursday morning.
The city has so far been approved to receive roughly $140 million to handle the crisis. Adams’ repeated requests for help were met Thursday with an in-person visit from a top White House aid, Tom Perez, to City Hall.
Adams also predicted if the flow of new arrivals isn’t curbed, the city’s migrant shelter population could rise to 100,000 – the population size of the state capital Albany.
DiNapoli’s report also differs from Adams’ assessment, predicting the migrant population will remain flat over the next two years and gradually decline.
But his analysis also projects the city’s migrant spending could rise to roughly $19 billion by June 2027 – factoring in an estimated $4.5 billion for June 2026 and then $3.05 billion in costs by the following fiscal year end.
Meanwhile, the account highlights additional “unfunded expenses” Adams will be forced to handle — including a housing voucher program, police overtime, the cost of expanding charter schools, implementing the union-backed lower class size mandate in the public school system, Metropolitan Transportation Authority subsidies and various social services.
“The risk of recession, which has ebbed and flowed in recent years, remains, but has not yet led to a decline in tax revenues. The City’s economic recovery is closely tied to its ability to provide necessary services,” the report warns.