By Josephine Stratman
New York Daily News
(TNS)<\/p>\n
NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014 Mayor Zohran Mamdani lambasted former Mayor\u00a0Eric Adams\u00a0for a \u201cfiscal crisis\u201d on Wednesday, laying the blame on Adams for a budget gap that could exceed $12 billion. The mayor\u2019s remarks came as he launched a public push on Gov.\u00a0Kathy Hochul\u00a0to raise taxes for the city\u2019s richest residents and corporations and to send billions more NYC\u2019s way.<\/p>\n
\u201cFormer Mayor\u00a0Eric Adams\u00a0handed the next administration a poisoned chalice,\u201d the mayor said at a\u00a0City Hall\u00a0press conference Wednesday afternoon. \u201c\u2026 This is not just bad governance, it is negligence, and now the responsibility falls upon us to protect working New Yorkers from paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
New York City\u00a0could be facing up to a $12.6 billion budget deficit over two fiscal years, the mayor warned\u2014although that number doesn\u2019t take into account extra revenues from\u00a0Wall Street\u00a0that are expected to shrink that gap.<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s press conference comes after the city\u2019s comptroller,\u00a0Mark Levine, sounded the alarm on a $12.6 billion budget gap for this fiscal year and the next. The mayor said Wednesday that City Hall\u2019s early estimates fall in line with Levine\u2019s number.<\/p>\n
Mamdani argued that the Adams administration severely underbudgeted the costs of services like cash assistance and homeless shelters.<\/p>\n
Pressed for details on how he\u2019d balance the budget, the mayor said he\u2019d avoid budget cuts but examine every dollar in city spending to find \u201cefficiencies.\u201d He promised more details in the preliminary budget, due\u00a0Feb. 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not shrink from this moment. We will not succumb to small ideas. We will meet this crisis with the bold solutions It demands. That means recalibrating the broken fiscal relationship between the state and the city, and it means that the time has come to tax the richest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani also laid some blame on ex-\u00a0Gov. Cuomo, though he didn\u2019t mention the\u00a0City Council\u00a0or the current governor.<\/p>\n
Ex-Mayor Adams accused Mamdani in turn of \u201cthrowing tantrums and pointing fingers instead of admitting he misled the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery budget passed under my administration was approved by the\u00a0City Council, including Mayor Mamdani\u2019s\u00a0City Council\u00a0comrades,\u201d Adams messaged the\u00a0Daily News. \u201cAnd thank God I was there, because their reflex has always been to spend first and ask questions never.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo caption: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pauses during a speech about the city\u2019s budget gap on Jan. 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
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