NYC’s Budget Watchdog Pegs City’s Deficit at Just $1.8 Billion

New York City’s independent budget monitor projected a $1.8 billion budget shortfall next year, far below the $7.1 billion gap expected by Mayor Eric Adams, helped by stronger-than expected tax receipts this year.

The city is likely to experience at least some sort of shortfall, in part because of the costs of sheltering asylum seekers and other migrants. But city spending will be about $3.5 billion lower than the Adams administration’s forecasts, the Independent Budget Office said.

That decline is in part because a hiring freeze will cut personnel costs and competitive bidding for asylum seeker care will ...