By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the New York City Council began to butt heads Wednesday over how to address the city\u2019s multi-billion dollar shortfall after the Council released its response to the mayor\u2019s preliminary budget proposal. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Speaker Julie Menin released the Council\u2019s preliminary budget response, which she said would find $6 billion to close the city\u2019s budget gap, doing so with new found savings without dipping into the city\u2019s rainy day fund, making cuts to services, or implementing tax increases. <\/p>\n
Mamdani immediately slammed the proposal, calling it \u201cunrealistic.\u201d <\/p>\n
The disagreement puts the two sides of City Hall truly at odds for the first time since Mamdani took office, and continues the trend of the tense budget negotiations that defined former Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 relationship with the Council. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re taking a disciplined, responsible approach,\u201d Menin said on Wednesday. \u201cOur plan outlines a viable path forward, one that closes the shortfall without raising property taxes without cutting critical services and without drawing down the rainy day fund.\u201d <\/p>\n
Menin also said the proposal would not require any property tax increases, a controversial plan Mamdani pitched as a \u201clast resort\u201d option to fill the city\u2019s budget gap. <\/p>\n
The Council\u2019s plan also ignores Mamdani\u2019s call to the state to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations to fill the gap, and for the state to increase how much money it gives its largest city to be more proportional to the revenue the five boroughs raise. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe City Council\u2019s Preliminary Budget Response serves to confront the challenges facing our city, while responsibly addressing fiscal uncertainty,\u201d said Queens Councilmember Linda Lee, the chair of the Committee on Finance. <\/p>\n
\u201cNew Yorkers grappling with an affordability crisis should not see a decline in the quality of the services they receive due to a budget dance, and the City Council is committed to fighting to ensure residents receive the investments they deserve,\u201d she added. \u201cAs the budget negotiations continue, the Council has outlined an alternative path to close the budget shortfall and preserve and expand the services and programs for families across our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the mayor said the Council\u2019s plan would actually slash city services, not increase them. But the Council vehemently denied that assertion. <\/p>\n
\u201c[Menin\u2019s] plan claims to close the city’s $5.4 billion fiscal gap without taxing the rich or cutting services,\u201d Mamdani said in a video posted to social media after the speaker\u2019s announcement. \u201cThe problem is that’s not what it would do if her proposal was adopted, it would result in slashing billions of dollars from agency budgets, and working New Yorkers would pay the price.\u201d <\/p>\n
In their own post, the Council pushed back and said Mamdani\u2019s statement must have been an April Fools\u2019 Day joke. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Council wasn’t kidding when we said NO CUTS to any services or staff,\u201d the Council said on social media. \u201cDespite these untrue accusations, the Council stands ready to negotiate a budget that delivers and maintains critical services for New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the City Council has little power to meet Mamdani\u2019s revenue demands, which lie with the state, he had hoped they would be an ally in his fight for a millionaire\u2019s tax and an increase in Albany funding. <\/p>\n
Some members of the state legislature support the proposals, but Governor Kathy Hochul has said she wouldn\u2019t greenlight the tax raises or an increase in funding down the Hudson River. <\/p>\n
\u201cWithout it, our deficit won’t disappear,\u201d Mamdani said, referring to his demands for the state. \u201cIt will repeat year after year, asking future generations to shoulder the burden. We will solve this budget crisis, but I’m not going to let it come at your expense.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Council’s preliminary budget plan includes re-estimations of city revenues and expenditures, $80 million in Department of Buildings construction permits and $42 million worth of rental revenue from Queens\u2019 two airports, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airport. <\/p>\n
The main source of savings, the speaker said, will be $175 million in Fiscal Year\u2019s 2026 and 2027 secured through reevaluating consulting contracts within the Department of Education. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that you’ve got to audit the agency’s non-essential contracts,\u201d Menin said. \u201cWe need to right size some of those contracts, and we need to competitively bid them.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Council also called for additional budget funding for city programs, including an expansion of the Fair Fares program, which provides subsidized transit fares. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the New York City Council began to butt heads Wednesday over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-183389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183389","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=183389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}