Cost-Shifting and Manipulation Mask City Budget’s Failure to Defund NYPD

New York, NYToday, Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Council touted an FY 2021 New York City budget they claimed delivered the $1 billion cut to funding for the New York Police Department (NYPD) demanded by advocates. Nearly half of the cut relies on a budgetary sleight of hand. School safety officers, who are currently under the NYPD's auspices, will be moved to the Department of Education's authority. Meanwhile, non-profits like the New York Immigration Coalition experienced severe cuts to core programs, with the New York Immigration Coalition’s budget lines for existing initiatives entirely eliminated.

After the announcement of the budget deal, Steve Choi, the Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition, issued the following statement:

“In a betrayal of New Yorkers hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and police violence, City Hall has delivered a budget still largely focused on police rather than people. Insultingly, the Mayor and the City Council believe they can satisfy the demands for justice with a few accounting tricks and cost-shifting measures. New Yorkers aren’t so easily fooled. We see this budget as the austerity document it is—one that defunds non-profits like the New York Immigration Coalition to avoid any real cuts to the police, leaving immigrants and Black New Yorkers paying the price. This is unacceptable. We will not stop fighting until we all can access justice and thrive in NYC.”