Press Release: The Adopted FY27 Budget Still Fails Our Public Libraries

Press Release for General Circulation
July 1, 2026

For questions or comments please contact
NYC PLAN (info@nycplan.org)

Yesterday, the NY City Council voted to adopt the FY27 budget, ending the six-month process of setting and negotiating a budget for the City of New York. NYC Public Libraries received only $538,076,000, or 0.43% of the city expense budget. During and after his campaign, Mayor Mamdani promised to allocate 0.5% of the city expense budget to our public libraries. Eleven members of the NY City Council also signed on to this demand. While making tremendous progress for New Yorkers in other areas, from infrastructure to a rent freeze for rent stabilized tenants, Mayor Mamdani has now twice broken his promise to sustainably fund libraries in the first six months of his tenure.

If we take a look at the numbers:

FY26 adopted library budget = $523,140,000
FY27 adopted library budget = $538,076,000¹
Just to keep up with inflation, FY27 should have been = $544,566,790
To meet the Mayor’s campaign and post-election promise of 0.5% allocated to libraries, FY27 should have been = $629,208,000

A Broken Promise Leaves NYC Libraries Underfunded

A graphic representation of the list above. It shows a graph with numeric values on the y axis ranging from $0 to $700 million dollars and then four bars on the x axis. The first bar shows the FY 26 amount for libraries as $523 million, the second shows what $523 million adjusted for inflation would be today, which is $545 million, the third shows the FY 27 amount which is $538 million, and separated from these bars on the far right-hand side of the chart is a fourth bar which shows the amount that was promised for FY 27, 0.5% of the city budget, which is $629 million

NYC Public Library Action Network is disappointed that our libraries remain underfunded. They will be receiving $91,132,000 less than Mayor Mamdani promised. This means continued vacancies, fewer books in circulation, stagnant compensation for library workers, service interruptions due to building repairs, and fewer services and programming for patrons. Further, NYC is currently experiencing a dangerous heat dome, where temperatures will climb above 100 degrees. Libraries serve as critical cooling centers, offering communities refuge from this extreme heat. Libraries are so much more than books. New Yorkers deserve much better than this.

This spring, the Mayor baselined funding for public libraries in the executive FY27 budget. This is a good start to ending the perennial budget dance. However, our libraries face increasing demand and rising costs, which need this baseline to be higher.

NYC PLAN is committed to pressing the Mayor to fulfill his promise to our libraries, and we remain uncompromising in our demand to see library budgets equal 0.5% of the total budget in the FY28 budget and beyond.

Who we are

About NYC Public Library Action Network (PLAN)

NYC Public Library Action Network (PLAN) aims to amplify, strengthen, and progress the futures of New York City’s three public library systems through community-led organizing, action, and increased funding.

https://www.nyc.gov/content/omb/pages/publications/fy2027-adopted-budget ↩︎