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Billionaire investor Bill Ackman questioned New York City Mayor\u00a0Zohran Mamdani\u00a0(D) on Tuesday after a mayor-appointed commission recommended an 18.2% salary increase for the mayor and other elected officials, arguing the proposal contradicts the city’s recent rent freeze policy.<\/p>\n
“Mamdani’s appointed advisory commission is recommending an 18.2% raise for himself and other elected officials purportedly because of inflation, yet his self-appointed Rent Guidelines Board, which is supposed to consider inflation in setting rents, froze rents for two years,” Ackman wrote on X. “A question for the mayor: How is this fair or appropriate?”<\/p>\n
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.@NYCMayor<\/a> Mamdani’s appointed advisory commission is recommending an 18.2% raise for himself and other elected officials purportedly because of inflation, yet his self-appointed Rent Guidelines Board \u2014 which is supposed to consider inflation in setting rents\u2014 froze rents for two\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/iYDIViz0uQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The comments came after the Report of the 2026 Quadrennial Advisory Commission recommended increasing compensation for New York City’s elected officials by 18.2%. The commission, appointed to periodically review elected officials’ pay, said salaries have remained unchanged since 2016 despite significant increases in the cost of living. It also cited growing responsibilities, salary compression with senior city employees and compensation trends in comparable public and private sector roles as reasons for the proposed adjustment.<\/p>\n Inflation Debate Takes Center Stage<\/p>\n The commission recommended raising the mayor’s salary from $258,750 to $305,800, while City Council members would see their pay increase from $148,500 to $175,500. It also proposed an annual inflation-adjusted mechanism if future pay commissions are not convened, although some government watchdog groups have expressed concerns about automatic increases.<\/p>\n Trending: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your ‘Safe’ Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time<\/a><\/p>\n Ackman’s criticism focused on the commission’s reliance on inflation while New York City recently froze rents for many tenants.<\/p>\n Rent Freeze Draws Fresh Scrutiny<\/p>\n Last month, New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 to freeze rent increases on one- and two-year leases for roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments, delivering on one of Mamdani’s signature campaign promises. The decision drew praise from tenant advocates but criticism from some landlords, who argued rising insurance, financing and operating costs were already straining building owners.<\/p>\n The mayor has made housing affordability a central part of his agenda, including a pledge to freeze rents on regulated apartments while expanding affordable housing. His broader economic policies have also drawn criticism from several prominent business leaders in recent weeks, including Tesla CEO\u00a0Elon Musk, as debate over affordability, taxation and wealth inequality has intensified in New York City.<\/p>\n Image via Shutterstock<\/p>\n Read Next:\u00a0<\/p>\n Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market<\/p>\n Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.<\/p>\n Arrived<\/p>\n Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100<\/a>. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.<\/p>\n FarmTogether<\/p>\n Farmland has historically held its value through market volatility and delivered returns uncorrelated to stocks and bonds. For accredited investors, FarmTogether offers direct access to high-quality U.S. farmland starting at $15,000<\/a> \u2014 fully managed, with no landlord headaches.<\/p>\n Immersed<\/p>\n Immersed is building technology for the future of work through spatial computing.<\/a> Known for its AR\/VR productivity platform that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens, the company has grown to more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Immersed is also developing Visor, a lightweight headset designed specifically for professional productivity, positioning the company at the intersection of remote work, extended reality (XR), and next-generation computing.<\/p>\n Fundrise<\/p>\n Private real estate and private credit can add income and stability to a stock-heavy portfolio. Fundrise offers access to diversified private real estate<\/a> and credit strategies through an easy-to-use platform, with professionally managed portfolios designed to generate passive income and long-term growth.<\/p>\n Realberry<\/p>\n Institutional-quality real estate has traditionally been difficult for individual investors to access. Realberry gives accredited investors direct access to private real estate opportunities <\/a>backed by a team with 35 years of experience, $3.4 billion in assets under management, and $481 million in cumulative distributions paid to investors as of Q4 2025, according to the company. With a portfolio spanning 13 million square feet across seven U.S. states, Realberry focuses on acquiring, developing, and managing real estate with an emphasis on long-term value creation while its principals often invest alongside clients to help align interests.<\/p>\n Mode Mobile<\/p>\n Mode Mobile is changing the way people interact with their phones by letting users earn money from the same apps and activities they already use every day.<\/a> Instead of platforms keeping all the advertising revenue, Mode Mobile shares a portion back with users who engage with content, play games, and scroll on their devices. Named one of Deloitte’s fastest-growing software companies in North America, the company has built a large beta user base and is scaling a model that turns everyday smartphone usage into a potential income stream.\u00a0<\/p>\n EquityMultiple\u00a0<\/p>\n For accredited investors looking beyond stocks and bonds, EquityMultiple provides access to vetted commercial real estate deals starting at $5,000<\/a>,<\/a> with only ~5% of opportunities passing their due diligence process.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Billionaire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6718,22774,111479,6079,9,24,56,63,65,64,15021],"class_list":["post-291798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bill-ackman","tag-elected-officials","tag-guidelines-board","tag-inflation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-rent-guidelines-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291798","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=291798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}