As you read this, New York City is contending with the very real consequences of the Adams and Cuomo years: a $5.4 billion budget gap that must be closed through one of two paths. Either the State can raise taxes on the rich and end the drain of City resources to the state, or the budget will have to be balanced on the backs of working New Yorkers. And working New Yorkers cannot afford to shoulder any more of the burden.
Our city’s fiscal challenges did not appear overnight. Prior to Eric Adams’ administration, actual spending tended to exceed projections by about 3%. Throughout Adams’ tenure as mayor, however, underbudgeting tripled to an average of 10%. In December and January, both former and current Comptrollers sounded the alarm about massive budget gaps staring down our city. Comptroller Levine drove the point home with stark clarity: “The mess we are in is real. We have the biggest budget gap since the Great Recession.”
But our city isn’t just facing the impact of years of underbudgeting. The budget gap is also the result of former governor Andrew Cuomo raiding New York City’s revenue to plug holes at the State level for a decade, shifting costs for everything from the MTA to housing to public assistance onto the city, while eliminating Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM), a key state grant, from New York City alone. Under Cuomo’s tenure, our city contributed 54.5% to the state’s revenue, while receiving only 40% back. New York City’s contributions to the state have only grown, helping the state run a $10 billion surplus on average since the 2021 tax increase was implemented.
The result of Adams’ fiscal mismanagement and Cuomo’s cash grab has left not only a festering hole in our budget, but an ongoing bleed to New York City’s financial stability.
We applaud Mayor Mamdani for his aggressive action to find solutions. Since January, City Hall has taken significant steps to tackle the deficit, including implementing an aggressive savings program and identifying additional revenue sources. And he has budgeted honestly, as underscored by the Citizens Budget Commission which noted, “The Mamdani Administration deserves kudos for presenting a budget that corrects prior administrations’ underbudgeting.” But still, the issue remains. We are faced with a chasm of $5.4 billion — and we need a recurring, structural solution to keep this deficit from popping back up each year.
The Mayor laid out two paths to bridge this gap. Path one would raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations, and end the drain of resources that has for too long characterized the City’s relationship with the State. Path two is far more painful: raid our city’s reserves and raise property taxes, impacting more than 3 million residential units and 100,000 commercial property owners. These property taxes would hurt working- and middle-class New Yorkers, including countless Black and brown homeowners. The first path is sustainable and fair; the second will exact a devastating toll on our communities. And a third option— slashing the services and funding that our city relies on each day— would only worsen the affordability crisis for working New Yorkers.
Last week, 500 DC 37 members gathered at the State Capitol to meet with legislators and advocate for policies that support workers in and out of the workplace. While the number of wealthy New Yorkers keeps growing, more and more middle-class families are leaving the state— that is, if they can afford to move at all. Too many others face insurmountable costs for rent, food, child care, and other basic needs. DC 37 members, most of whom face strict residency requirements for their public sector jobs, support common sense tax reforms that will generate revenue to invest in public services and bring down the cost of living for the many by taxing the wealthiest few.
The onus of this decision lies in Albany. Let us be very clear: what the Mayor has proposed would impact just 0.4% of city residents; the wealthiest among us who have shirked their financial responsibility for decade upon decade, leaving working New Yorkers to bear the brunt of the cost. New York’s millionaires are already receiving a collective $12 billion tax cut from President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, around $129,600 per millionaire per year. If our state legislators do not demand the richest few finally pay their fair share, this great wealth divide will only grow wider.
Waiting is no longer an option— we must open up the toolbox now. The mechanisms to solve our fiscal crisis and make our city more affordable lie within reach: tax the rich, and end the drain. Albany, it’s time to do the right thing.
Henry Garrido is the Executive Director of District Council 37 AFSCME, New York City’s largest public employee union.