Mayor Eric Adams’ latest budget proposal maintains the multi-million dollar funding reduction for the city’s public library systems, leaving them facing additional cuts and closures. According to sources familiar with the matter, the executive budget bid for the 2025 fiscal year, which Adams is expected to formally unveil on Wednesday, totals $111.6 billion. While this represents an increase of $2.2 billion over the $109.4 billion proposed in January, it does not fully restore the $58.3 million in funding that has been cut or proposed to be cut from the library budgets.
As part of a series of austerity measures to offset billions of dollars in COVID-related expenses, the mayor previously slashed $22 million from library budgets in November, leading to the elimination of Sunday services across all branches. Adams’ preliminary plan from January proposed an additional $36.2 million reduction for the 2025 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Library system leaders have warned that these cuts would force them to scale back to just five days of service at most branches, delay the opening of new branches, and curtail various programming, including free U.S. citizenship and English language classes for immigrants, young adult literacy courses, and career development programs for school-age kids.
“The impacts will be both devastating and unprecedented,” said New York Public Library President Anthony Marx, whose system is the city’s largest, serving Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
The release of the mayor’s executive proposal marks the final phase of the city’s budget season before he and the Council must adopt a final budget for the 2025 fiscal year by July 1. In a report released earlier this month, the Council identified $6.1 billion in unrealized tax revenue and funding as compared to the mayor’s preliminary plan. Council Democrats, led by Speaker Adrienne Adams, have argued that this additional cash infusion could be used to reverse the entire $58.3 million funding decrease for the library systems and avoid other proposed cuts to education and social services.
