New Yorkers Deserve Well-Resourced Libraries

No New Funding for Libraries in Fy27 Budget

The Mamdani Administration’s FY27 Executive Budget restored the cuts made in the Preliminary Budget, but does not fund the reality of providing library services in the current economic climate. This flat funding proposal relegates library workers in NYC to continued short staffing and overwork, compromising the ability to provide services to our neighbors at the same time need is rising. 

In his campaign, Mayor Mamdani promised 0.5 percent of the city budget for libraries. This budget falls $97 million short of that promise and does not offer a plan to fulfill it. 

The mayor has stated publicly on multiple occasions that libraries provide an essential service in NYC. We call on the mayor and city council to provide a level of funding that acknowledges that essential function that meaningfully meets the needs of this moment. 

We believe in Mayor Mamdani’s commitment to change and to the workers who make this city run, and we know that when this administration disrupts the broken narratives around library funding, it will usher in a new renaissance for NYC’s libraries. The path forward is clear: allocate a full 0.5% of the city budget to libraries in the adopted budget, baseline that funding to end the dance for good, and create a real plan to address the $345 million in unfunded capital needs. The budget process isn’t over, and we’ll be at every hearing, because we look forward to the Mayor keeping his word