City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Friday called Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to raise property taxes if Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t agree to a tax hike on the rich a “nonstarter.”

During an appearance on “Mornings On 1,” Menin said the Council would instead focus on identifying “pockets of savings” as it puts together its own budget proposal.

“We’ve been very clear that is a nonstarter for us,” she said. “We cannot be raising property taxes 9.5% on the backs of small property owners, small business owners, Black and brown communities throughout our city. It’s just a nonstarter.”  

What You Need To Know

During an appearance on “Mornings On 1,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin called Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to raise property taxes if Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t agree to a tax hike on the rich a “nonstarter”

Mamdani has proposed raising property taxes only if Hochul and state lawmakers refuse to approve higher taxes on the wealthy to help close a multibillion-dollar budget gap. The mayor would need the City Council to sign off on any property tax hikes

Menin said the Council will instead focus on identifying “pockets of savings” as it puts together its own budget proposal

Mamdani has proposed raising property taxes only if Hochul and state lawmakers refuse to approve higher taxes on the wealthy to help close a multibillion-dollar budget gap. The mayor would need the City Council to sign off on any property tax hikes.

Menin pointed to debt service and health care as two of the areas the Council’s search for savings would center around.

“We launched a new office. It was created by my bill, the ‘Healthcare Accountability’ bill, where we can basically, we now know what hospitals are charging us,” she said. “Oftentimes we’re being overcharged as a city, and so we can go in there and make sure that we are actually being charged at correct prices and potentially save billions of dollars a year.”

“We’re going into every single agency to really look at, again, where are those areas of savings? Consultant contracts, things like this where there may be excess costs that we can cut,” she added.

She emphasized that service cuts are “off the table.”

“We are not going to cut services,” she said. “What we are looking at is areas of savings, really cutting down on waste, fraud, abuse, where the city is overpaying for particular services.”

Despite disagreeing with Mamdani’s property tax proposal, Menin said she and the mayor have a productive relationship.

“I talk to him all the time. We meet on a regular basis. We have a very good relationship. I think that’s very important,” she said. “I was clear about the property tax. That’s a nonstarter for us, but we look forward to having very productive dialog with the administration.”

The Council is expected to release its own budget plan in the coming weeks. The city’s final budget is due by June 30.

Tap the video player above to watch the interview.