Eric Adams pads cash-strapped NYC payroll with 293 ‘special assistants’

Mayor Adams padded the city payroll with 293 “special assistants” during his first full fiscal year in office — a more than 20% increase over his predecessor Bill de Blasio, The Post has learned.

The bloated band of vaguely titled aides, accountable only to Adams, comprised roughly one-third of the Mayor’s Office staff during the yearly period ending June 30 and cost taxpayers $24.3 million, according to payroll records.

Eighty-five pocketed six-figure earnings in fiscal 2023 – including 13 who took in more than $200,000.

They include Edward Mermelstein, a real estate exec with reportedly close ties to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, former Deputy Comptroller Marjorie Lander, and Sideya Sherman, a one-time exec with the city’s Housing Authority.