Eric Adams and Adrienne Adams are both running for mayor. They're also hashing out the city's $115 billion budget.
They call it the budget dance – that annual, winding back-and-forth, push-and-pull between the New York City Council and the mayor’s office as they shake out a spending plan for the coming fiscal year. But what does that dance look like when the leading performers are simultaneously competing for the same role?
When City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Mayor Eric Adams come together in the City Hall rotunda for their annual culminating budget handshake, they’ll be doing so mere days after the June 24 primary election in which they both (at least initially) ran for mayor. This year’s budget process and the most consequential part of the Democratic mayoral primary line up almost exactly. And as the speaker vies in a crowded race to dethrone the mayor, the city’s access to billions of dollars in federal funding is also in doubt under threatened Trump administration cuts.
The extraordinary political environment could certainly complicate budget negotiations. But there will also be an incentive for these city leaders to deliver a well-received budget they can tout while simultaneously battling it out on the campaign trail.
“I don’t think the mayor would benefit from a protracted and bloody budget fight like we’ve had every year,” said City Council Finance Chair Justin Brannan, who is also running for city comptroller. “If the mayor is indeed running for reelection, I think he would benefit from giving the council what we want and putting this to bed early.”
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/03/eric-adams-and-adrienne-adams-are-both-running-mayor-theyre-also-hashing-out-citys-115-billion-budget/404182/?oref=csny-category-lander-top-story