(The Center Square) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday said the state is committing another $1.5 billion to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to help his new administration plug budget gaps over the next two years.
Hochul said the new funding for the Big Apple “protects services and puts the city on stable financial footing” as Mamdani’s budget writers wrestle with a projected $7 billion revenue shortfall.
“A strong New York City means a stronger New York State,” Hochul said in a statement. “New Yorkers expect the state and the city to work together, and I’m proud to partner with the mayor to deliver for working families.”
The pledge of funding comes less than a week after Mamndani traveled to Albany for the state Legislature’s annual “Tin Cup Day” — when municipal leaders ask for more funding from the budget — to request more funding for New York City and allow him to raise taxes on business and wealthy families to reduce the projected shortfall and fund his lefty agenda.
The tranche of new state funding will be provided over the next two years, Hochul said. It includes $510 million to cover expenses the state used to pay for public health and youth programs, but has shifted onto the city, officials said. The other $500 million in new funding will be targeted to “shared priorities,” according to the Hochul administration.
Mamdani said he is “heartened” by Hochul’s support, and said he hopes it signals the beginning of “a new, productive and fair relationship between City Hall and Albany – focused on delivering for working New Yorkers.”
“Working New Yorkers did not create this budget crisis, and they should not be the ones to pay for it,” Mamdani said in a statement Monday. “After years of staggering fiscal mismanagement under the previous administration, our city deserves responsible and collaborative leadership.”
Mamdani’s budget officials had previously projected the budget gap for the next two years could top $12.6 billion, but officials said that figure has been revised down to about $7 billion. Mamdani ruled out cuts to the NYPD and other city services but warned the budget gap must be filled to balance the spending plan.
Hochul has previously committed $1.7 billion to Mamdani to fund plans to provide free child care for 2-year-olds in New York City as part of broader plans to expand universal childcare statewide.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist and former Queens assemblyman, has called for setting a new wealth tax for the city’s top earners and increasing taxes on major corporations to pay for his agenda, which includes tuition-free college, free bus service and government run grocery stores.
“What we are going to do is exhaust every option to make it clear that the time has come to reset the relationship between the city, its wealthiest residents, its most profitable corporations and with Albany,” Mamdani said at a recent town hall meeting.
Hochul has signaled that she won’t be supporting tax increases in her budget proposal for the next fiscal year, but hasn’t ruled out higher taxes to pay for expanded universal child care programs.
New York state is facing a projected budget deficit of more than $10 billion in the next fiscal year, with revenue gaps widened by federal cuts and funding freezes.
