NEW YORK, NY.- Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday that he would exempt New York City’s public libraries from his latest round of threatened budget cuts, sparing them from having to close many of their branches on weekends.

Adams, a Democrat in his second year in office, had faced growing pressure to call off the 4% budget cuts that library leaders have warned would be “devastating” to the system.

Library officials were appreciative of the mayor’s decision but cautioned that they still faced another $36 million in previously announced budget cuts and were worried about their impact on libraries’ hours and programs.

The announcement was part of Adams’ latest $106.7 billion executive budget proposal, where he also reduced some cuts planned for the Fire Department, Sanitation Department, the Parks Department, the Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees museums.

With more than 200 locations across the city, the public library system is an institution beloved as a community resource and a foundation of critical priorities like childhood reading and providing access to the internet.

Earlier this week, the leaders of the New York Public Library, Queens Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library warned that the mayor’s latest directive for city agencies to cut their budgets by 4% for the coming fiscal year would force them to suspend Saturday service at a number of locations and “completely eliminate Sunday service.”

Anthony Marx, president of the New York Public Library, thanked the mayor for restoring that funding.

“This investment is an investment in the people of New York City,” he said in a statement. “We also know that the city’s finances are precarious, and appreciate all the more his decision to restore vital funding and ensure all New Yorkers can enjoy the opportunities that come from their libraries.”

The mayor and the City Council are negotiating a budget for the fiscal year that starts in July, and must synthesize their different priorities for the city.

Adams has said that across-the-board budget cuts are necessary across city agencies as New York City grapples with a host of financial challenges, including paying for housing, food and schools for an influx of migrants from the southern border, and for new labor deals with city workers.

His latest executive budget proposal, the largest in city history, included $2.1 billion in increased tax revenues for the current fiscal year and $2.3 billion next year, driven by better than expected growth in personal income tax, business tax and sales taxes. But Adams continued to raise concerns over the arrival of more than 57,000 migrants in the city and said that providing them with services was expected to cost $4.3 billion through next year.

“No one wants to factor in asylum-seeker costs,” Adams said.

The mayor also trumpeted several spending priorities, including plans to build a citywide organics waste recycling program and two new health care campuses that would create thousands of jobs.

Leaders in the City Council have vowed to fight the mayor’s cuts to libraries and other critical programs, with a budget deal expected in June.

They have called on the mayor to reverse budget cuts to public schools and to a popular preschool program for 3-year-olds and for more spending on social services like food assistance and for expanding half-price MetroCards for poor New Yorkers.

On Wednesday, Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, said the budget fight was far from over. The mayor’s executive budget, she said, “still leaves our libraries facing significant service cuts, agencies that deliver essential services harmed, and programs that deliver solutions to the city’s most pressing challenges without the investments needed.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.