Policy
Written by Adam Andrejewski for RealClearInvestigations
Mayor Eric Adams' administration had 293 “special assistants” on the payroll during his first full fiscal year in office, an even greater number than his predecessor, who was criticized for having too many of them, the New York Post reported.
“The swelling group of aides with vague titles, accountable only to Adams, made up about a third of the mayor's office staff during the annual period ending June 30 and cost taxpayers $24.3 million,” the Washington Post reported from city payroll records.
Eighty-five of those assistants earned six-figure salaries in fiscal year 2023 — including 13 who earned more than $200,000.
At one point, Adam's predecessor, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, had a larger number of special assistants, reaching a high of 339 in fiscal year 2019. De Blasio has been criticized for using special assistants to circumvent civil service rules and give political operatives Careers. .
Without civil service rules governing positions, the mayor can set salaries and raises beyond the normal range for similar positions.
“De Blasio infamously used private utility gigs in part to sponsor political operatives who bide their time waiting for the next campaign — a kind of publicly funded farm system similar to those used by Major League Baseball teams,” The Post wrote.
By fiscal year 2021, de Blasio had reduced the number of his special assistants to 243, costing taxpayers $21.1 million, The Post reported.
Adams announced last year that the projected $12 billion cost of assisting asylum-seeking immigrants would entail across-the-board cuts of 5% across city agencies, with another 10% cut planned for early this year.
But Ken Girardin, director of the Taxpayer Watchdog Group's Center for Public Policy Research, said Adams' desire to “inflate” his payroll with nearly 300 special assistants “only weakens his case for more federal and state support” to help the city deal with the migrant crisis. . .
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Reprinted with permission from RealClearWire.
