NYC Mayor Eric Adams is accused of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on migrants by doling out no-bid contracts to firms paying shelter supervisors $1,500 a SHIFT

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on no-bid contracts that pay for-profit companies 'exorbitant rates' to manage emergency shelters for asylum-seeking migrants.

City Comptroller Brad Lander made the claim in a review of migrant-related contracts released on Tuesday, identifying 340 asylum-seeker contracts representing an estimated contract value of $5.7 billion.

Most of those contracts were procured on an emergency basis, allowing the city to waive the usual competitive bidding requirements, according to the report.

'The asylum-seeker contracts show the dangers of this process run amok — wildly high staffing prices with little consistency across agencies, costing much more than traditional procurements or hiring city employees,' the report said.

A City Hall spokesperson told DailyMail.com in a statement that the city is pursuing cost-saving measures as emergency contracts expire, adding: 'We will review the full report and address any issues that need to be rectified.'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on no-bid contracts to manage emergency shelters for asylum-seeking migrants

'New York City has led the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, helping more than 60 percent of the nearly 180,000 migrants who have come through our care since the spring of 2022 move out of our shelter system and take the next steps of their journeys,' the spokesperson said.

'Our success stems in large part from our ability to adapt and respond to the evolving needs of this crisis,' the statement added.

In one case cited by Lander, a vendor charged the city $185.63 per hour for shelter supervisors, totaling nearly $1,500 per eight-hour shift.

In contrast, a contract that did go through competitive bidding provides the city with shift supervisors at the cost of $68.69 per hour, Lander's office wrote. 

In another example, the comptroller notes that the city is paying security guards $90 per hour under one of the no-bid contracts, in contrast with $29.80 per hour for a city employee or $25.07 per hour for the average contracted rate. 

A city hall spokesperson said: 'At the start, we bundled various services, including security, into contracts to rapidly meet the emergency needs. 

'As these contracts have ended, we've taken security services out of the bundles, and as we shift our focus from day-to-day crisis operations to long-term planning for future needs, we are committed to maintaining these cost-saving measures.' 

The review notes that the city's migrant crisis has been ongoing since the spring of 2022, with Adams' state of emergency declaration coming in October of that year, and questions why contracts are still being procured on an emergency basis.  

'The city allowed for-profit companies to take advantage of an emergency in its nascency. These companies charged exorbitant rates for roles that are frequently procured by the city at more reasonable rates,' the review states.

'The city has had ample time to navigate this new status quo of shelter overpopulation and to incorporate the asylum seekers into our time-tested system of procurement and service provision that minimizes risk to the city and keeps costs low,' it adds.

Last week, Adams announced his administration will cut an additional 10 percent in migrant spending and pause drastic budget cuts to other departments after he was slammed for giving migrants taxpayer funded debit cards.

City Comptroller Brad Lander made the claim in a review of migrant-related contracts released on Tuesday, identifying 340 asylum-seeker contracts representing an estimated contract value of $5.7 billion

Recently arrived migrants wait at a bus stop outside Floyd Bennet Field shelter on February 21, 2024 in the Brooklyn borough of New York

Adams said he will slash an additional 10 percent in asylum seeker spending, bringing the total cut on migrant spending to 30 percent.

The Big Apple has been inundated with an influx of migrants it cost taxpayers $12.65 billion in 2023, a sum that the mayor's office vows to reduce down to $10.6 billion in the fiscal year of 2025.

'When we inherited it, we were in an emergency state. Emergency conditions cost more money. We're now transitioning into a stabilized state,' the mayor told WABC-TV.

'This is going to be here for a while. So by doing that, we can renegotiate contracts. We can look at long-term planning. We're not using this as an emergency, although we're in a crisis status. We're treating it differently because the emergency still exists. But we are managing it differently.'

The Big Apple has been inundated with an influx of migrants it cost taxpayers $12.65 billion in 2023, a sum that the mayor's office vows to reduce down to $10.6 billion in the fiscal year of 2025.

Adams said the budget cuts are a direct result of his administrations efforts to stabilize the budget that resulted in a better-than-expected economic performance in 2023.

Migrants pick up clothes as mutual aid groups distribute food and clothes under cold weather near the Migrant Assistance Center at St. Brigid Elementary School last month in New York

They are specifically cutting an additional 10 percent migrant budget cut on top of an additional 20 percent they said already saved more than $1.7 billion in city spending.

More than 170,000 migrants have arrived in the city since the spring of 2022, and the crisis is only deepening as they continue to be bussed from Texas where record numbers are entering.

In January, Adams announced the original 20 percent cut that reduced costs from the migrant crisis over the next three years.

'If we had to do the third rounds, it will impact garbage pickup, it will impact our services to our older adults, it will impact libraries, you will impact a series of services that you will actually see the difference. We're not going to have to do those third rounds, that third round of cuts to our agencies,' Adams said.

'You're not going to see some of those draconian steps that we were going to have to take that will get in the way of the cleanliness and the safety of our city.'