Gov: Yes, city needs help, but wait till next yr.

Gov. Hochul pledged Wednesday that the state would do more to assist the city with its crushing migrant crisis as cost estimates balloon, but indicated more state funding would not come before next year’s budget, which she said could include another $1 billion for the city.

Hochul and Mayor Adams, two political allies, have maintained they are moving in lockstep to address the influx of asylum seekers in the city. But the governor offered scant immediate financial commitments Wednesday as the mayor publicly pushed for more state support.

“More money will be required from the State of New York,” Hochul acknowledged at an unrelated news conference in downtown Brooklyn. “And we’re doing more. We’re also scouring the State of New York, and particularly the city, for locations that we can use in a large-scale way.”

The process to unlock more state funding — beyond discretionary spending — might require a return of the Legislature, which has been out of session since June.

In the spring, Hochul and legislative leaders secured $1 billion in state funding to help the city support the new arrivals. So far, the city has burned through about a quarter of that aid, according to city and state officials.

And on Wednesday, the Adams administration made striking adjustments to its migrant cost estimates for the next year, projecting that caring for asylum seekers could sap the city of $6.1 billion by next July — about a 40% increase from previous projections.

Responding to the revisions, Hochul told reporters that she had informed legislative leaders that the state would likely need to reserve another $1 billion for migrants in next year’s budget, and added that she has pressed Congress to open its purse for the city. “We are trying so hard on a few fronts,” said Hochul, who has also sought to convince upstate municipalities to welcome migrants and urged the federal government to expedite legal work status for the arrivals.

In one significant investment, the state has offered the city use of a parking lot at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village, and promised to reimburse the city for a shelter there that could serve 1,000 men.

At a City Hall news conference on Wednesday, Adams described Hochul as a “real partner.”

But he added: “We just need more help on the state level.”