Two-thirds of the town’s emergency administration funds might be imperiled by Trump administration federal funding cuts, NYC Emergency Administration Commissioner Zach Iscol testified Friday.
The company depends on about $110 million in federal grants — but when the president follows via on threats to drag funding, a lot of that cash may disappear, leaving the company, which handles climate and well being emergencies and lead the emergency response to the migrant disaster, strapped for money.
Some key areas that might be impacted for the company embrace: 160 jobs, or two-thirds of the company’s headcount, climate forecasting and communications companies and tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in FEMA funds.
President Trump has stated he’s contemplating “getting rid” of FEMA, which provides the town with hundreds of thousands in assist, and cuts have additionally been made to the Nationwide Climate Service and different businesses that the town relies on.
Clouds and fog partially covers Manhattan buildings. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Each day Information)
Iscol stated on the listening to that the funding drying up was a degree of concern to him partly due to a five-year pattern of federal funding falling: “So this is not something that is new, although there are significant changes that possibly could be occurring with this new administration.”
The commissioner stated that his company is beginning a 90-day evaluate to have a look at the dangers of dropping federal funding and the way they might fill gaps to make sure the company is just not reliant on federal cash in case of emergency — a exceptional shift for the company, which has lengthy operated with assist from the feds.
“We’re doing this planning now to make sure that we don’t end up with a crisis situation,” Iscol stated.
The company collects federal and state grants all through the fiscal yr, leading to a $200 million precise funds. The company has been allotted $88.9 million in a preliminary funds plan that works as a baseline.
Only one council member, Joann Ariola, chair of the Committee on Fireplace and Emergency, was current for Iscol’s testimony.
The Trump administration has already proven a willingness to dip into the town’s FEMA allocations — a serious funding stream for the native emergency administration company. The administration clawed again $80 million in FEMA funds to the town for managing the migrant disaster in February.
At a listening to final week, Jacques Jiha, Mayor Adams’ high funds official, stated that Metropolis Corridor couldn’t decide to utilizing metropolis funds to offset any doable federal cuts. The huge amount of money in query is an excessive amount of to tackle, he stated.
Whereas Adams filed a lawsuit in opposition to Trump looking for to recoup the $80 million, he’s nonetheless been broadly criticized for a reticence to publicly criticize the president.
The mayor declined on Tuesday to provide his opinion on the president’s commerce wars and doable federal funding cuts, and he stated that he hasn’t introduced these points up with Trump.
“No, I haven’t had those conversations with him about these,” Adams stated.
Initially Printed: March 14, 2025 at 2:00 PM EDT
