New York City’s adopted fiscal year 2027 budget does not include a previously proposed increase of 580 New York City Police Department officers, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani citing cost savings.
Asked why the budget did not increase NYPD headcount, Mamdani said he and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch had reviewed agency spending.
“I’ve been talking to all agency heads about ways to find savings,” Mamdani said. “Commissioner Tisch and I were able to identify ways to keep the NYPD head count at the originally authorized 35,000, while also meeting all of our crime-fighting needs and implementing the new programs that were announced earlier this year.”
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin publicly disagreed with the decision on Tuesday. “We need to be adding police officers,” she said.
She noted that the city has fewer officers than it did on Sept. 11, 2001.
The budget agreement comes amid what New York City Comptroller Mark Levine described as “the most challenging budget cycle in recent memory.”
“This agreement gets the city through an exceptionally difficult year, but it does not resolve the structural challenges ahead,” Levine stated. “With large out-year gaps, limited reserves and significant economic uncertainty, next year’s budget could be even more difficult.”
Levine added that his office would continue evaluating the city’s fiscal safeguards, including “stronger rules governing our rainy day fund” and whether oversight of rapidly expanding programs is sufficient “to ensure that the services New Yorkers count on remain strong and sustainable for years to come.”
