Adams could get surprise win on mayoral control in $237B NY state budget deal
Mayor Eric Adams could walk away with a surprise win in the preliminary state budget deal announced Monday — with several sources telling The Post the deal will include an extension of his oversight of New York City schools.
Albany lawmakers appeared likely to tuck in a two-year extension of mayoral control over city public schools in the $237 billion handshake deal — with a few caveats, sources with knowledge of the talks said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, however, hedged a bit, saying the issue wasn’t entirely locked in as part of the preliminary agreement, which came after two weeks of drawn out negotiations over the budget that had been due April 1.
“There’s still time to see if we can get this worked out,” Hochul told reporters, stressing that Monday’s announcement was not final.
The governor and Adams had both sought a four-year extension of mayoral control as part of the 2025 fiscal year budget.
But an offer would be a win for Adams after months of state lawmakers saying publicly they would not include it in the budget, but rather revisit the issue later as a separate bill before mayoral control expires at the end of June.
Sources said the deal to grant the mayor a two-year extension would require him to recommit to the state’s new law reducing class sizes in Big Apple schools — a point of contention for Albany, with the Adams administration repeatedly speaking out against the change.
As part of the proposed deal, the chairman of the Panel for Educational Policy — the governing body of the city Department of Education — would no longer be appointed by the mayor, the sources said.
“If what we’re hearing is true, then it’s clear that the Governor and the Mayor have fought hard to deliver an extension of the best governance structure for New York City’s public school students,” Crystal McQueen-Taylor, Executive Director of StudentsFirstNY, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have been a part of this win for kids and families, and we’re looking forward to celebrating a final mayoral accountability agreement soon.”
The preliminary budget deal, which included a slate of housing reforms lobbied for by the Adams administration, also came with the stunning addition of upped penalties for attacks on retail workers and the ability for prosecutors to lump a series of minor thefts together for a felony charge.
The change, which is aimed at cracking down on the surge in shoplifting, appeared to be a non-starter after Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie shot it down earlier this year.
A push from the city for more funding to help cover the $10 billion migrant crisis failed, with state funding staying at $2.4 billion, as the governor had laid out in her budget proposal.
The Empire State’s powerful unions–from education to building trades to healthcare – were among the most significant winners in the handshake deal, wrestling significant victories out of what some Albany wonks called a “boring” budget.
For instance, the budget appears to include a wage deal between the Real Estate Board of New York and building trades on setting base wages for construction workers while providing a new tax incentive to build affordable housing.
The minimum wages for jobs would range between $35.00 and $72.45 an hour, depending on the size and location of the project, according to figures shared with The Post.
But landlords and developers appeared to be among the losers after failing to stall legislation that would allow tenants to challenge rent large rent hikes in housing court and would require them to offer lease extensions to those who pay on time.
There are significant carve-outs, however, including for new construction and small landlords; and the cap is higher than tenant activists would like — 10% annually or 5% plus inflation, whichever is lower. It would mark the first time since 1974 that the state has imposed rent regulation on previously market rate housing.
The preliminary agreement also includes a process to consolidate nearly 700 fiscal intermediaries operating an $8 billion state Medicaid program — the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program –into one company directly overseen by the Department of Health. The measure, Hochul said, could save $500 million per year once implemented.
