NYPD budget holds near $6.4B as Mamdani’s safety plans go unfunded

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first preliminary budget cancels his predecessor’s plan to hire 5,000 additional police officers and keeps the NYPD’s roughly $6.4 billion budget essentially flat.

The $127 billion city budget unveiled on Tuesday directs $421 million toward items the administration said had been underbudgeted, including NYPD overtime shortfalls, aging police cars and surveillance technology costs.

The department’s uniform head count is projected to remain just under 35,000 officers next year, effectively scrapping the 40,000-officer force envisioned under previous Mayor Eric Adams, who announced the expansion shortly before leaving office.

Funding for the Department of Community Safety, Mamdani’s signature proposal to dispatch mental health teams to some 911 calls instead of police, is notably absent from the preliminary plan. Administration officials said funding for the new department would appear in the executive budget, which is expected in late April. Whether that money materializes could be a clearer test of whether the mayor’s campaign promises on public safety take shape.

Budget officials also did not provide details on funding for a promised expansion of B-HEARD, the city’s mental health crisis response program.

Mamdani said the preliminary budget accounts for expenses that had been underestimated in prior years.

“This is a reflection of what overtime actually is,” Mamdani said. “What we’ve seen under prior administrations is an inability to account for the actual costs of city services.”

The budget presentation kicks off months of negotiations with the City Council, which must approve a version of the budget by the end of June.

Under the plan, the NYPD’s budget dips slightly, from about $6.4 billion in the current fiscal year to approximately $6.38 billion in fiscal year 2027. It is slated to rise again to about $6.44 billion by 2030 under the city’s financial plan.

Adams announced the 5,000-officer expansion shortly before leaving office, though the NYPD had already struggled to recruit and retain officers at its existing head count.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the NYPD’s budget has grown while the number of police officers has shrunk.

“The bottom line is that the city always finds the money for the priorities it chooses,” he said. “Public safety must be a priority.”

The preliminary budget also sets aside $31 million for NYPD security costs related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup; $94 million for the Domain Awareness System, which powers the department’s network of surveillance cameras and drones; $54 million for information technology maintenance; and $44 million to replace aging emergency response vehicles.

Beyond the NYPD, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice budget would rise from $798 million to $810 million next year, driven in part by roughly $26 million in annual spending to prevent hate crimes. The budget of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates misconduct allegations against NYPD officers, would remain roughly flat at about $29 million.

District attorney budgets would decline next year, largely because of a drop in state and federal funding, even as the city increases its own contribution.