Mayor Eric Adams traveled up to Albany on Tuesday to ask the state government to increase its share of New York City’s asylum seeker costs — from covering just a third of the expenses to half — as he also beseeched legislators for zoning changes needed to build more housing, and an extension of mayoral control of schools. 

“We’re the economic engine of the state and we’ve always been here for the state, we need the state now to be here for us and the city,” Adams told state senators and assembly members inside a hearing room at the Legislative Office Building near the Capitol.

The mayor said the state’s historical commitment to covering a third of the city’s homeless shelter costs presumes the federal government will also help shoulder the burden — but the city needed more support now since the federal government is not giving as much money for undocumented migrants. 

Meanwhile, state lawmakers grilled Adams on everything from migrants to e-bikes to property tax reform on his trip for what’s known as “tin cup day,” when mayors from municipalities and cities across New York come up to make their budget asks. 

Adams’ pilgrimage this year comes weeks after a positive State of the City address, where the roughly 67,000 asylum seekers still in the city’s care were barely mentioned even as the mayor outlined what the city needs from Albany in terms of both funds and laws. 

The mayor has been sensitive to previous coverage of his trips to Albany, including criticism for a failed push to totally change the state’s bail reform laws.

“We know we have to deliver for New York, like we’ve done the last two years,” Adams said after his remarks. “We’re going to do it again this year.”

The mayor’s four major housing requests of the state government are a new affordable housing tax incentive, a way to legalize existing basement apartments, incentives for converting office buildings into residential ones and lifting the density cap for new buildings. 

He also asked for the governor’s help to increase the city’s borrowing power to $36 billion — it’s currently at around $17 billion —– to get money for vital infrastructure needs, including repairs on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  (On Tuesday, am New York reported that the federal government rejected the city’s $800 million grant applications to redesign the crumbling expressway.)

‘How Can We Trust You?’

Some of the biggest skepticism from state lawmakers came regarding the mayor’s desire to renew mayoral control of schools for four years. The state law creating that control is due to expire this year, after lawmakers gave Adams just a two-year extension of it following his first trip to Albany as mayor.  

In hearings across New York City over the past few months, many parents and educators have expressed a desire to limit mayoral control or have it taken away altogether. 

Pointing to $550 million in proposed city cuts to the schools budget, Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, a Democrat from Queens, questioned the mayor, “I ask this as a parent: How can we trust you? Why should we trust you with mayoral control?” 

The mayor responded that he found any distrust “surprising,” noting he is also a parent (his only son is in his 20s) and that he previously worked as a police officer.

State Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan) asked the mayor about a near unanimous desire from attendees at public hearings for the removal of mayoral control. 

“You and I both know in this business of government, the most passionate being against something is normally those who come out the most,” the mayor said. He told Jackson he would try his best to lower class size in public schools. 

Longtime mayoral ally Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who also leads the Brooklyn’s Democratic party, said she supported an extension of mayoral control and asked what happens if it’s not extended.

“Let us finish the job,” Mayor Adams said. 

But Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) said he didn’t believe the mayor should be given an extension and that he was disappointed by Adams’ testimony. 

He asked about a mandate for the city to build 20 miles of bus lanes by 2022, which has not yet been met. 

“I think that these answers are par for the course for Mayor Adams, which are answers that contradict reality, and are simply rhetoric,” he told THE CITY.

“I don’t think that you can look at this mayor’s record at leading our city’s schools specifically and be left with any confidence that he should be given a blank check to do so.”

‘Not a Relief in Sight’

Lawmakers also grilled the mayor about migrants, including the continued cost to care for them and whether Gotham should change its status as a “sanctuary city.” 

Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, a Democrat who represents parts of north Queens, asked the mayor how he would spend some of the $2.4 billion the state already allocated. 

“Some of it is going to be spent already on the humanitarian relief centers we have in place, and it’s going to be spent on housing and some of the other needs that come with the asylum seekers,” Adams said.

“We have to take the full care of the asylum seekers — housing, feeding, everything a family needs we’re picking up the cost for those needs.”

When asked if the mayor planned to close the migrant relief center at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, in Braunstein’s district, Adams said it would remain open indefinitely but that could change if the city got more help from the state, feds or fate. 

“It should not be happening in your community, it should not be happening at Floyd Bennett Field, it should not be happening anywhere in the city,” Adams said, adding that, nonetheless, “It’s happening every day and there’s not a relief in sight.” 

Sen. George Borrello, an upstate Republican, asked the mayor if he would repeal the city’s title as a sanctuary city, saying it was the reason so many asylum seekers came to New York City. The mayor pushed back on that premise. 

“I don’t think people come here because we are a sanctuary city, they come here because we are the greatest city on the globe,” he said.

The mayor wasn’t the only city lawmaker to travel up to Albany; Comptroller Brad Lander and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams also testified. 

In her remarks, the speaker asked for more state money to cover the increase in state-issued housing vouchers, and more money for the city’s public housing and 3-K and pre-k programs. 

“At the center of our considerations are the working families and New Yorkers who comprise the backbone of our city and state,” she told lawmakers.