Shant Shahrigian
New York Daily News
NEW YORK CITY — Canceling this year’s NY Police Academy class and reducing funding for the mayor’s controversial ThriveNYC program are among the proposals City Council members are making as they try to find funding for their priorities and preserve New York’s social safety net in the face of massive tax revenue shortfalls.
With crime down amid stay-at-home orders, city funds would be better spent on social programs and food pantries than a new class of police cadets, said Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Queens), who chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee.
“Imagine what we are facing with millions of New Yorkers out of work,” he told the Daily News on Tuesday ahead of the Council’s first budget hearing since the mayor proposed significant cuts last month. “There’s going to be a need for much more assistance for New Yorkers. I don’t think paying for another police class is the wisest choice right now.”
The NYPD previously pushed back graduation of this year’s class of roughly 587 cadets from April to July, saving about $6 million. With salaries for new officers in the $43,000 range, Richards said the city would save $25 million by completely canceling the class this year — funds that could go to other essential services, he added.
Mayor de Blasio said at a Tuesday press conference he wasn’t mulling NYPD or Correction Department budget cuts.
“Both of them are doing extraordinarily important work and we need to keep them doing it, dealing with a lot of new challenges in this crisis,” de Blasio said.
Wednesday marks the first in a series of renewed budget hearings in which de Blasio officials will testify before the Council. Under state law, the body and the mayor’s office have until June 30 to finalize the budget.
The mayor and Gov. Cuomo have been pleading for billions of dollars from Washington, though President Trump and Senate Republicans have opposed the effort.
“Anything could happen between now and adoption, and the number one question is what’s going to happen in Washington with the stimulus,” de Blasio said. “That will frame everything, and then what’s happening with the disease will frame a lot.”