NYPD Overtime to be Cut to Help Pay for Migrant Crisis — Even as Crime Remains Higher than Before COVID; NYPD Can Expect a Flood of Retirements After NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Proposal to Slash Overtime for Migrant Cost-Cutting: Sources

NYPD overtime to be cut to help pay for migrant crisis — even as crime remains higher than before COVID:

Overtime for NYPD cops will be cut to help pay for the city’s migrant crisis — even as police battle to rein in crime that is still higher than before the pandemic.

Mayor Eric Adams’ budget director, Jacques Jiha, has told the city’s four uniformed agencies — police, fire, sanitation and corrections — to come up with plans to slash their OT costs.

“The mayor will … issue a directive to implement an overtime reduction initiative for our city’s four uniformed agencies (NYPD, FDNY, DOC/DSNY),” Jiha said in a memo sent to city agencies Saturday “These agencies must submit a plan to reduce year-to-year OT spending.”

The uniformed agencies must submit issue monthly reports to City Hall “to track overtime spending and their progress in meeting the reduction target,” the memo said.

The order comes as Adams has warned that the recent flood of tens of thousands of asylum seekers into the Big Apple will “destroy” it, including by crippling it financially.

He has said the migrant influx could cost the city $12 billion in the next three years and that Big Apple agencies will have to immediately come up with cuts of 5% — and possibly a total of 15% by spring — although Jia said the more draconian figure would still “only cover two-thirds of our projected asylum costs.”

Patrick Hendry, head of the city’s largest police union, the Police Benevolent Association, on Sunday blasted the notion of cutting even overtime costs for his members. —>READ MORE HERE

NYPD can expect a flood of retirements after NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ proposal to slash overtime for migrant cost-cutting: sources:

The NYPD can expect a brain drain thanks to a flood of retirements if overtime is cut as proposed by Mayor Eric Adams to help plug a multibillion-dollar, migrant-fueled budget hole, police sources say.

“A lot of people that are eligible to retire are going to leave if the overtime stops because overtime is pensionable,” an NYPD sergeant said Monday.

New York’s Finest “haven’t heard anything officially” about a potential reduction in overtime, but the source told The Post that such a move wouldn’t make financial sense.

“We’re already at critical staffing levels, and it’s cheaper to pay overtime than it is to hire another officer,” the source said, explaining that health care and other benefits had already been paid for when an existing officer picks up a shift.

In addition to possible police, fire, sanitation and correction OT cuts, all branches of government in the Big Apple have been told to slash spending by 5% — and potentially up to 15% by spring — to mitigate the “skyrocketing costs” of New York City’s migrant crisis without more federal aid.

Recent city initiatives such as special education pre-K expansion, rent supplement for families with children and additional litter-basket collection should also be ripe for the chopping block, according to budget watchdogs.

Possible belt-tightening measures for the city were very generally laid out in a Saturday directive to Big Apple agencies by Jacques Jiha, director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. —>READ MORE HERE

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