{"id":166332,"date":"2026-03-17T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/166332\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:32:09","slug":"exclusive-zohran-mamdani-presses-nyc-council-to-drain-citys-rainy-day-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/166332\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Zohran Mamdani presses NYC Council to drain city’s rainy day fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pressing the City Council to drain the Big Apple\u2019s rainy day fund \u2014 setting up a showdown with Speaker Julie Menin, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

The Mamdani administration formally requested that the council amend the city\u2019s current spending plan to allow siphoning $980 million from a savings fund created under Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2021.<\/p>\n

The fund currently has $2 billion, and city officials have never tapped into it \u2014 even during the COVID pandemic and the migrant crisis.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to discuss tapping into the rainy day fund. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

Mamdani \u2014 who has proposed a record $127 billion spending plan \u2014 has claimed he needs the cash to help cover what he says is a $5.4 billion budget deficit.<\/p>\n

The council now has 30 days to vote on the measure \u2014 which is unlikely to move forward as top council members, including the speaker, have already spoken out against pulling from the city\u2019s savings.<\/p>\n

Menin argued that the city could instead make about $1.7 billion in spending cuts<\/a> for the 2027 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsible path forward is not to deplete our financial safety net, but to pursue real efficiencies and sustainable solutions,\u201d Menin said last week. <\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is joined by Speaker Julie Menin\u00a0on Feb. 19, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council will continue pushing for the long-term savings and fiscal discipline needed to protect New York City\u2019s financial stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mamdani\u2019s team has pushed back, countering that Menin\u2019s savings math doesn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n

The budget standoff comes as Mamdani plans to poach Menin\u2019s budget chief, Richard Lee, to become his Finance Department commissioner, sources confirmed.<\/p>\n

The top concern for the lawmakers has been a downgrade of the Big Apple\u2019s bond rating, which would increase borrowing costs and significantly hurt city finances.<\/p>\n

Last week, two top bond rating companies warned<\/a> of a downgrade if city savings were depleted.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani attends the St. Patrick\u2019s Day Parade on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing we were concerned about is how it would affect the bond rating. Now we are seeing that in real time,\u201d said council Finance Chair Linda Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of folks who are criticizing us are saying we want to cut services, and\u00a0that is something I would never advocate for,\u201d she added. \u201cThere is money to be found and savings to be found. We shouldn\u2019t go into the rainy day fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani said last week that he was \u201ccommitted to working with the council\u201d to address the deficit. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the savings plan that was put forward frankly raises more questions than it answers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pressing the City Council to drain the Big Apple\u2019s rainy day fund \u2014 setting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14927,19777,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,19963,58,82],"class_list":["post-166332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-city-budget","tag-government-spending","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-spending","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166332","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=166332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}