Mayor Eric Adams on Friday struck a handshake deal with the City Council on a record-breaking nearly $116 billion budget — which would create a new department to regulate e-bikes, sources said.
The tentative agreement includes $6.1 million for a new “Department of Sustainable Delivery,’’ which would be staffed by 60 people and dedicated to e-bike regulation and enforcement after a recent push by the Adams administration to rein in the two-wheelers.
City Hall also agreed to give the council a major boost in funding for immigration services to the tune of $54.5 million, a source familiar with the deal said.
That pot would provide $41.9 million in free legal assistance for migrants facing deportation and who need help with benefits — a sticking point for city Democrats looking to fight back against President Trump’s strict immigration enforcement.
Another $12.5 million would go toward pro bono lawyers who would help unaccompanied minor immigrants in removal hearings, sources said.
“That is more than any other major city in America,” Adams said of the overall immigration pot of money.
Dem Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who made a late bid for the Democratic mayoral primary, and Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, the finance chair, were adamant about securing the immigration and child-care funding as top priorities, sources said.
The spending plan will also include $10 million for a universal-child-care pilot program — after the issue became a hot topic in the Democratic mayoral primary race.
The initiative will dole out free child care for children ages 2 and under for hundreds of low-income families, sources said.
“This is a major step forward for our city,” Adams said at a press conference surrounded by City Council leaders Friday evening.
The handshake deal comes after Adams — who is running for re-election as an independent in the November general election — unveiled a $115 billion spending proposal in May that he dubbed “the best budget ever.”
The new deal on the budget, which is due July 1, appears to add another close to a billion on top of that, for a total of around $115.9 billion, according to a City Hall rep.
That would be a record-breaker, after the mayor and council reached a deal worth $112.4 billion last year.
Mayor Adams touted the proposed new budget as “responsible,’’ saying it nvests in public safety, affordability and quality of life.
“This has been in my opinion the easiest budget that we had to pass,” said Hizzoner, who is now in his fourth year at City Hall.
The council had also fought Mayor Adams, no relation to the speaker, over proposed cuts to libraries during the budget negotiations.
The budget includes an agreement to spend $2 million to expand service to seven days a week for 10 libraries citywide, a $755 million plan for after-school programs for kindergarten through eighth grade, adding 170 Parks and Recreation workers and hiring as many as 3,700 new teachers to slash class sizes.
There is about $8.5 billion in reserve funds in anticipation of any possible fiscal crisis, the mayor said.
Speaker Adams said during the announcement that the budget has shown progress. Brannan agreed.
“After too many years of cuts and uncertainty this budget shows that New York City is finally choosing to invest in the people who make New York City work,” Brannan said.
“For far too long we’ve been stuck in a cycle where every year was a battle to simply restore the basics.”
