NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged from Albany with billions of dollars in cash to help close a historic budget gap and partially fulfill a key campaign pledge. Pulling off a repeat next year will likely be more difficult.
The state-sanctioned windfall gives Mamdani breathing room as he prepares to finalize his first budget this month — and he largely has Gov. Kathy Hochul to thank. But with cash in hand, the young democratic socialist has embraced a short-term strategy that sets him up for another challenging cycle in just six months, when the respective grinds of the city and state budgets begin anew.
Mamdani will undoubtedly make the case for Albany to increase income taxes on the wealthiest New York City residents and large corporations as part of a “tax the rich” rallying cry, which would give him enough money to fill looming budget shortfalls and then some. And a coalition supporting him is already making plans for an aggressive push they believe will be successful. Yet there are early signs Mamdani will find the keepers of the state purse less receptive to New York City’s fiscal woes a second time around…