Mayor Adams to lay out NYC priorities in 11th-hour Albany trip ahead of state budget deadline

Mayor Adams is once again returning to his old upstate stomping grounds on Monday to meet with Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders as he seeks to ensure they keep New York City in mind as they negotiate a state budget.

Adams, a former state senator, trekked to Albany last month to testify before lawmakers, boosting the governor’s proposed bail changes while expressing concerns about the fiscal implications of Hochul’s $227 billion budget blueprint.

The mayor previously shared his worry that portions of Hochul’s fiscal plan could pose big problems for the Big Apple, arguing that proposals to expand charter schools and force the city to contribute more to the cash-strapped MTA could devastate city finances.

His return to the Capitol comes days before the state’s Friday fiscal deadline.

Adams has expressed support for many of Hochul’s policy priorities, including the bulk of her ambitious housing plan and her hope to once again amend the state’s bail laws.

Both Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) have pushed back on the governor’s plan to remove a section of the state’s bail law requiring judges impose the “least restrictive” conditions to ensure a defendant will return to court.

Adams has argued judges need more leeway to hold repeat offender behind bars while opponents say Hochul’s proposal would only lead to more Black and brown New Yorkers being locked up just for being poor.

A city government source briefed on the mayor’s trip said bail is expected to be the mayor’s main focus as he meets with Stewart-Cousins and Heastie. Last year, state lawmakers dealt Adams a political blow as they refused to include an extension of mayoral control of city schools and the renewal of a program granting developers tax breaks in exchange for setting aside affordable housing in the budget.

The mayor last month also argued that the state is shortchanging the city when it comes to aid and resources needed to help handle the influx of more than 45,000 asylum-seekers who have been bused in from states’ along the southern U.S. border.

Adams’ main points of contention with Hochul’s budget proposal centered around her plan to require the city contribute $500 million annually towards the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the removal of the cap on the number of charter schools, which he estimated would cost the city more than $1 billion.

The mayor’s fiscal concerns haven’t led to any major rifts with the governor and the two are on the same page, at least publicly, when it comes to criminal justice and other policy priorities.

Adams also aligns with Hochul in her opposition to increasing taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents. The pair of moderate Dems have said they fear raising income taxes on top earners could drive the rich to relocate to other states, something that proponents of the plan argue would not be the case.

The mayor has also called for increasing penalties on shoplifters and said he would like to see the state expand the earned income and child tax credits.