The crisis is not a hindrance: the wife of the mayor of New York spends $ 2 million from the city budget on 14 assistants

While New York is mired in trash due to a lack of funds in the city budget, the mayor's wife uses the services of 14 workers for $ 2 million, which are paid from the budget. The details are shared by the publication Fox News.

New York City lacks funds for regular garbage collection, while Mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCrae, maintains a staff of 14. It costs the city $ 2 million a year, including a videographer with a salary of $ 70.

Some of McCrae's employees are involved in the city's ThriveNYC program, which provides free mental health insurance to New Yorkers. The budget for this program, designed to protect the mental health of citizens, is $ 1,25 billion. This program has been criticized for the lack of metrics. “How much taxpayer money will the mayor's wife steal before leaving office? How can she sleep at night hiring these hackers knowing that huge numbers of city workers will be laid off in the fall? It's a shame!" Said City Councilor Eric Ulrich (R-Queens).

While the city faced the need lay off about 22 thousand municipal workers due to the budget crisis caused by the pandemic, McCrae has a core team of eight employees. This information was received by The Post upon request under the Freedom of Information Act.

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Among them is a speechwriter with a salary of $ 17 thousand per year, as well as a senior advisor with a salary of $ 150 thousand per year. The adviser was hired in April after de Blasio announced a moratorium on staffing to help close the $ 7 billion deficit caused by the pandemic.

But the mayor's wife has at least six employees from other government agencies. Thus, it has 14 employees, which is twice as much as in 2018. Among them is a videographer hired in February, with a salary of $ 70 a year. He took it off video about how the first lady bakes gingerbread cookies during quarantine.

Other workers include a public relations director with a salary of $ 143 a year from the Department of Health, and a special assistant from the mayor's office with a salary of $ 115 a year.

Also on staff, McCrae is a software specialist from the Department of Human Services and an assistant director with a salary of $ 65 a year.

Mayor's Office spokeswoman Chanel Caraway defended McCrae's team on August 18. She believes that New Yorkers should thank the First Lady's staff for their contributions. “Her team is working tirelessly to implement goals and priorities on issues like mental health and domestic violence that will improve the lives of New Yorkers,” she said. “As the city overcomes the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, these civil servants continue to seek solutions every day to help every family in every neighborhood, and we owe them a debt.”

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Despite such generous salaries, the hiring of these employees to McCrae's team was not publicized. “With more than 22 layoffs of city workers, the mayor can't seriously count on him to continue to fund high-paid speechwriters and professional videographers for his wife's political ambitions. This is wrong and it must stop, ”said City Councilor Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn).