President, CEO of Queens Public Library on city budget

Mayor Zohran Mamdani may hedge on one of his campaign promises to increase funding for the city’s public libraries.

Under the mayor’s preliminary budget proposal, the city’s library system comes in at about 0.39% of the budget, which is lower than the 0.5% Mamdani promised on the campaign trail.

President and CEO of the Queens Public Library Dennis Walcott, who used to be the city’s schools chancellor and deputy mayor, talks about the annual budget dance on “Inside City Hall.”

Tap the video player above to watch the interview.