New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has stripped Mayor Eric Adams’ power to strike emergency deals with contractors providing migrant services without prior approval.
Lander’s office notified city agencies of the revocation in a letter dated last Thursday and obtained by The Post Monday afternoon as the city continues to struggle to house the tens of thousands of migrants that have arrived in the Big Apple over the last year and a half.
“Given the rapid expansion of the City’s efforts to shelter arriving asylum seekers, our Office is revising its prior approval,” part of the comptroller’s office letter states.
Lander’s office initially gave the Adams administration permission to make deals with migrant service contractors without the comptroller’s pre-approval in November 2022.
While the city can still issue emergency contracts, each one would need to be reviewed by the comptroller first, according to the revisions.
About half a billion dollars in emergency contracts tied to migrant services have been issued since May alone, according to city contract records posted online and reviewed by the Post.
The contracts are for housing, food, laundry and other services for asylum seekers.
On Nov. 29th alone, City Hall inked $54 million in contract deals to house migrant families.
A City Hall source questioned the move by Lander as the city cares for more 66,000 migrants across 200 makeshift shelters. Since spring 2022, 146,000 migrants have reached the city.
“Do you want it to take longer to get food to people? I know everyone isn’t a fan of what we are doing but if the alternative is to sit and wait in bureaucracy then whatever,” the source said.
The decision made by Lander came after his office reviewed $1.7 billion in emergency contracts over a 21-month span, including the $432 million agreement with controversial medical services company DocGo, a comptroller office spokesperson said.
“Our review found extensive failures to report subcontractors despite problems that surfaced with many of them and 80 percent have no performance reviews at all,” office spokesperson Chloe Chik said in a statement.
“In response, we concluded that the most prudent course for the city’s fiscal health and integrity would be to require City Hall to seek prior approval before using emergency procurement on a case-by-case basis, as required by the City Charter, rather than blanket approval to use whenever they want.”
The comptroller rejected DocGo’s contract with the city in September, citing numerous issues with the company.
Chik vowed the comptroller’s office would “continue to conduct fast and thorough reviews of emergency contracts.”
But City Hall spokesperson Charles Lutvak slammed the move by Lander, arguing the comptroller “tying our hands behind our back is unfair to both new arrivals and longtime New Yorkers and will unquestionably slow down every step in the process.”
“We will continue to hold our contractors to the highest standards for providing care and services,” he said as the mayor’s office again called on the federal government to provide much-needed funds for migrant services.
The Nov. 30 letter is the latest rift between Lander and Adams, though the two appeared to recently tone down their rhetoric toward the other as Gotham faces the ongoing crisis.
The move also comes after Lander recently made a trip to the White House about the crush of migrants in New York.
Adams is expected to travel to Washington DC Thursday to discuss the needs of NYC and other cities to address the migrant crisis, Deputy Mayor for Communication Fabien Levy said Thursday night. The trip comes after Adams cut his visit to DC short last month.
The city is expected to spend $12 billion on migrants through 2025, which have led to deep cuts to other municipal services.
City Councilman Justin Brannan, who is the council’s finance committee chair, agreed with Lander’s decision to scrap Adams’ emergency powers.
“While managing and financing an international migrant crisis should have never been our responsibility alone, the Administration has relied far too much on costly emergency contracts with for-profit companies that have milked taxpayers for millions,” Brannan, a Brooklyn Democrat, told The Post.
“While the migrant influx continues, it is no longer an unexpected situation and therefore no longer warrants emergency contracts without oversight.”
Councilman Bob Holden, a Queens Democrat, said emergency contracts need scrutiny, but was troubled by “Lander’s mixed messages.”
“He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth, advocating for more migrants during this crisis,” Holden told The Post. “He should focus on urging the White House to address the border and support overburdened cities, like New York.”
