{"id":139525,"date":"2026-02-20T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139525\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:28:10","slug":"mamdanis-first-nyc-budget-off-to-rocky-start-after-tax-the-rich-ultimatum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139525\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s first NYC budget off to rocky start after ‘tax the rich’ ultimatum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s brash tax hike ultimatum<\/a> tied to his first budget has City Council members fuming \u2014 with many railing that he should clean his own house before making New Yorkers pay.<\/p>\n

Negotiations over Hizzoner\u2019s proposed record $127 billion budget are sure to get off to a rocky start following his threat of a citywide 9.5% property tax increase.<\/p>\n

Many members of the Democrat-led council were left shaking their heads, and think Mamdani should be slashing city spending<\/a> before even considering spiking taxes on their constituents.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani presented his brash budget proposal, demanding Hochul tax the rich or he\u2019d raise property taxes. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than taking money out of people\u2019s pockets, we should take a hard look at our spending and identify areas where we can reduce costs,\u201d said Councilman Oswald Felix (D-Bronx).<\/p>\n

\u201cExcessive spending and then requiring more contributions from hard-working residents is not good policy,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cThis is not how you help New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Democratic council member said Mamdani\u2019s proposal was \u201cbaloney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRaising property taxes will literally make our city less affordable for the small homeowners who desperately need relief from our city government. I know there has to be a better path forward. This is\u00a0baloney,\u201d the source said, arguing there was plenty of room to cut in the bloated city budget.<\/p>\n

Mamdani laid down his brazen demands Tuesday as he unveiled his preliminary budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year that raises spending by $11 billion.<\/p>\n

He argued there were only two ways to pay for his budget and a $5.4 billion deficit the city is facing. Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers must pass a 2.2% income tax increase on people making $1 million or more, or the mayor would be \u201cforced\u201d to hit city property owners and raid city reserves of about $3.5 billion over two years.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s proposal would require the City Council to pass, and Hochul has said she doesn\u2019t intend to raise taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when New Yorkers are already grappling with an affordability crisis, dipping into rainy day reserves and proposing significant property tax increases should not be on the table whatsoever,\u201d City Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n

One council source described the mayor\u2019s proposal as \u201cextreme.\u201d Sources said the options were the brainchild of First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, a former lieutenant of Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us were thrown for a loop at the fact that he wants to put this out there as an option on the table \u2026 And maybe this is where the inexperience factor comes in. Because I just I don\u2019t see how this would be a good idea,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

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City Council finance chair Linda Lee (D-Queens) said savings could also be found in agency surpluses.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity agencies frequently end the fiscal year with surpluses, we should take a comprehensive approach to identifying savings \u2014 without depleting reserves or reducing essential services,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must holistically evaluate all potential efficiencies and revenue opportunities to avoid shifting costs onto taxpayers,\u201d she said. \u201cWe should not turn to the unprecedented step of drawing down reserves or increasing property taxes, as those steps would place a disproportionate burden on some of our most vulnerable residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan (center), a former de Blasio lieutenant, is reportedly behind Mamdani\u2019s move. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

Others said Mamdani should wait until the city knows the full scope of its latest tax revenues \u2014 which already helped bring down his previously projected $12 billion budget gap \u2014 before he starts threatening homeowners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the revenues are going to be higher than expected as well,\u201d one council source said.<\/p>\n

Some were even skeptical of Mamdani\u2019s deficit claims \u2014 which he managed to cut by more than half in just two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat kind of volatility raises serious questions about how these numbers are being presented and whether taxpayers are being asked to shoulder burdens prematurely,\u201d Councilmember Frank Morano (R-State Island) said in a Wednesday statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaxpayers should not be treated as an endless ATM,\u201d he said. \u201cHomeowners should not be forced to pay more because City Hall refuses to control its spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul has been staunchly opposed to Mamdani\u2019s rich tax, and doubled down after his Tuesday ultimatum. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n

Felix noted that the city doesn\u2019t always spend its cash in ways that make sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, why does it cost more than a million dollars to build a single public bathroom?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The city has spent exactly that before \u2014 last summer, five public toilet booths were installed in parks<\/a> across the city last summer at about $1 million a pop, even though the individual units only cost about $185,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cWould anyone spend their own money like this?\u201d Felix said.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) cited a possible target for cuts as the Department of Education \u2014 which is seeing its budget increase by $3 billion to about $40 billion under Mamdani\u2019s plan, even though school enrollment has declined by about 12% since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we really want to get serious about savings, we have a number of agencies that are absolutely bloated and need to be reined in. A proper agency audit needs to happen, starting with the DOE,\u201d Ariola said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMuch like his overinflated budget deficit, the mayor is taking a doomsday approach to try and scare people into complying with his demands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s brash tax hike ultimatum tied to his first budget has City Council members fuming \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7739,14927,301,1442,57,9,56,63,65,64,2780,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-139525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-city-budget","10":"tag-city-council","11":"tag-mayors","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-taxes","19":"tag-us-news","20":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}