The city is beefing up efforts to recruit municipal staffers to work overtime at emergency migrant shelters — even as the Adams administration plans to slash up to 15% from all department budgets by next spring.
The new Office of Asylum Seeker Operations sent out surveys via email to city workers last week to gauge their interest in working at the “migrant respite centers.”
Many city workers have racked up OT for months by working at the centers after their shifts — and some told The Post they’re game to keep doing it.
“I love to help families, and the extra money I will make on the weekends is great,” a Department of Education staffer said. “I can do this for as long as needed.”
The agency also asked all department supervisors to “encourage” staff to volunteer at the centers “particularly during weekdays” instead of reporting for their regular duties — a move that could curb the OT binge.
A similar effort to recruit Spanish-speaking city workers in the spring called for employees to sign up for 12-hour shifts if supervisors excused them from their normal work duties.
The NYPD and FDNY’s first-responders and other staffers are not being recruited to work at the centers, sources said.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Holden) said shifting city workers to the centers hurts taxpayers.
“Pulling city workers to deal with the migrant issue means fewer services for New Yorkers,” he said. “This can’t keep going, and we’ve got to point to President Biden for dropping the ball on our city.”
The city has opened more than 200 emergency shelters for roughly 113,000 migrants who have sought care since the mass influx began in spring 2022.
It has spent more than $2 billion dealing with the new arrivals, and the cost will rise to $12 billion by July 2025 unless the federal and state governments pitch in, officials said.
“We are exceptionally grateful to city employees who have stepped up and offered their available time to help work at emergency sites,” said Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelek. She would not say how the much the city has spent on overtime and other salary costs to staff the shelters or what it expects the final tab will be.
