Eric Adams leaves New York Police overtime pay ‘under budgeted’

New York City Mayor Eric Adams released his 2024 city budget proposal last week, grabbing the attention of some with what he proposed to allocate for overtime pay for the New York Police Department. Under the preliminary budget, the NYPD budgeted $452 million for overtime in coming fiscal year 2024.

“As our city continues its recovery, our administration continues to make investments in our core priorities — including public safety, affordable housing, and clean streets — while exercising strong fiscal management,” Mayor Adams said in a statement last week. “The Fiscal Year 2024 Preliminary Budget continues our strong track record of making prudent use of taxpayer dollars while continuing to ‘Get Stuff Done’ for New Yorkers.”

The reason Adams’ proposal turned heads was because New York Police have already $412 million in overtime pay just halfway through the current fiscal year. If the NYPD continues to spend at that rate, the final overtime bill for fiscal 2023 will pass $820 million.

Hours after Adams released out his budget plan, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander cited police overtime as one of several key areas that “remain under budgeted,” along with housing vouchers and “likely increases in labor costs.”

“The Fiscal Year 2024 budget offers an opportunity to invest wisely in a shared and thriving future for New Yorkers,” Lander said in a statement. “Yet, rather than making investments upstream as that plan envisioned, this budget meanders with little direction.”

All city agencies are supposed to meet a goal of cutting costs by a set percentage each year under Adams’ Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG). In fiscal year 2023, the goal was for each agency to cut its budget by 3%; in fiscal year 2024, the bar rises to 4.75%.

The NYPD has so far failed to meet its PEG goal. In fiscal year 2023, they reported finding just 1.3% in savings, and in fiscal year 2024, that number will likely rise no higher than 2% in savings.

The City contributed to this report.