Mayor Eric Adams raised only about $146,000 in campaign cash in the past three months — his smallest haul to date — but it was enough to still potentially qualify him for $4 million in matching taxpayer funds.
By comparison, Adams — who is battling corruption charges and a mass exodus from City Hall — raked in more than $1 million in private campaign donations in the previous quarter.
While Hizzoner’s most recent take was relatively paltry, his campaign says it has now raised enough total money so that $500,000 of its pot qualifies for 8-to-1 public matching funds.
The matching funds would add another roughly $4 million to his coffers, doubling his current estimated $4 million to a total of just over a whopping $8 million, or near the limit that any candidate is allowed to spend on any city race.
“The campaign has now raised the maximum amount it can spend in the primary with anticipated matching funds for his reelection far ahead of schedule,” Adams’ campaign manager, Vito Pitta, told The Post on Tuesday.
Pitta claimed that Adams had actually raised $190,000 for the last quarter, or about $40,000 more than records filed with the New York City Campaign Finance Board show.
He did not explain the discrepancy between the two figures.
Adams’ latest haul also marks the first time a rival has outpaced him during a filing period: City comptroller Brad Lander raked in $315,880 for the same quarter, more than any of the candidates.
City Hall has been swimming in scandal over a slew of federal investigations, high-profile resignations — and a jaw-dropping 57-page indictment accusing the mayor of corruption while seeking “straw donations” for his 2021 campaign to do an end-run around finance laws.
Adams is the first mayor in city history to be indicted — and the case could ultimately cost him the public matching funds.
Federal prosecutors contend Adams encouraged and netted illegal money from people who skirted the system by disguising who was really handing over the money to get around limits on donations.
The accusations prompted CFB Chair Frederick Schaffer to launch a review of Adams’ funds.
“While the mayor is presumed innocent until proven guilty and deserves due process, the Board will nonetheless review all relevant information, including but not limited to the indictment, in order to uphold our city’s campaign finance rules and protect taxpayer dollars,” Schaffer said after Hizzoner’s indictment.
The CFB told The Post on Tuesday that it will decide in December whether to deny Adams the matched funds.
Pitta declined to comment on whether Adams’ legal woes would affect matching funds.
Instead, he said, “Mayor Adams’ strong support from New Yorkers continues.”
If the board denies Adams, he would still have $3.1 million cash on hand, which eclipses his rivals at the moment and would presumably keep him steady financially in his re-election primary bid in June.
Lander and other mayoral candidates such as Scott Stringer and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie each have under $300,000 cash on hand but are expected to ultimately qualify for matching funds.
Adams’ rivals’ declarations were made public on the CFB website Friday.
