The city will restore funding for litter baskets and a job training program after reducing its migrant-related spending, Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday. 

The budget cut reversals, which come nearly two months after City Hall unveiled a slew of reductions, will allow the Department of Sanitation to maintain thousands of existing litter baskets and continue installing modernized ones, Adams said at a news briefing.

They will also allow the city’s Parks and Social Services departments to keep running a “Parks Opportunity Program” that offers jobs and training opportunities for low-income New Yorkers, he said. 

“When we came into office, we made it clear that we wanted to turn our mean streets into clean streets, and we wanted to create open and safe spaces. And these announcements today are clearly part of what we aim to accomplish,” Adams said. “Fiscal discipline, using taxpayers' dollars wisely and making sure we have great programs like the POP program.”

District Council 37, the city’s largest union of municipal workers, sued Adams and several city agencies over the controversial cuts last month. 

The head of the union, Henry Garrido, specifically denounced the elimination of the job training program at the time. 

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Garrido called the reversals “a positive step in a budget cycle that’s presented immense challenges for our members and the administration.” 

Asked about the lawsuit on Thursday, Adams said he had had an “in-depth conversation” with Garrido about the program. 

“When I sat down, I spoke with Henry, and he explained the history of the program, how it came about, how we were targeting low-income New Yorkers,” he said. “When people come and convince and give you a good case for something, you have to be flexible enough to say, let me look at it.”

Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who joined Adams at his briefing, said the agency had been “prepared to remove about 40% of litter baskets citywide” under the cuts the mayor announced in November. 

“That's well over 9,000 of the 23,000 maintained by our department,” she said. “This would have had, obviously, a meaningful impact on the cleanliness of our neighborhoods.”

Thursday’s announcement came a day after Adams said the city would restore some funding to the NYPD and the FDNY after finding some relief from the migrant crisis's fiscal crush.

"Now, what we are looking at are 20% asylum seeker PEG savings to bring down the cost and look at the contracts and do a real evaluation," Adams said.

New estimates show the crisis will now cost the city $10 billion instead of $12 billion, by the middle of 2025. But City Council leaders were not impressed.

In a joint statement, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan said:

"The Council has said all along the money exists to avoid overly broad cuts and protect essential services relied upon by our constituents. This latest move to restore litter basket services and the Parks Opportunity Program only reinforces the fact that these and many other mid-year cuts were unnecessary."

City Hall is still seeking state and federal help with the ongoing migrant influx, as Adams waits on Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will reveal how much — or how little — state taxpayer dollars will be sent down to the city during next week's state budget address.

"These decisions are not made based on some commitment that was made from the governor's office. But she has been clear on the fact that the federal government should be helping the city," Adams said.

The city's funding restorations will be included in the preliminary budget for the 2025 fiscal year, which will be unveiled next Tuesday, City Hall said in a news release.