NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin outlined a budget proposal that she said would close a $6 billion deficit without raising taxes, cutting services or raiding the city’s savings — a plan Mayor Zohran Mamdani immediately deemed “unrealistic.”
On Wednesday, Menin detailed a starkly different vision of New York’s finances compared with the proposal Mamdani brought earlier this year. The mayor’s controversial budget threated a 9.5% property-tax hike if the city wasn’t able to secure more state aid.
Menin said such an increase was “ill advised,” and detailed a plan that closed the deficit by re-estimating costs, raising expectations for revenue and securing $2 billion of savings.
“Double counting previously identified savings, overestimating revenues, and exaggerating debt service savings does nothing to close a deficit,” Mamdani wrote in a social media post on X.
Menin’s proposal to close the gap without increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations “effectively ensures this structural deficit will continue indefinitely,” Mamdani said.
On social media, the city council called Mamdani’s accusations “untrue” and said members are “ready to negotiate a budget that delivers and maintains critical services for New Yorkers.”
Within New York City politics, Menin, 58, is widely seen as a more moderate Democrat to serve as a check on the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor. Representing parts of the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, she currently leads the 51-member council. A former corporate attorney, she has worked in and around city government for more than two decades, holding prior positions in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.
Julie Menin, speaker of the New York City Council, during an announcement in Brooklyn on Jan. 12.Bloomberg
She warned in a press conference that Mamdani’s pitch to dip into the city’s savings had led credit rating companies to downgrade the city’s outlook, which she said would be “potentially catastrophic” for its ability to borrow money.
Her proposed budget estimates the city will spend $860 million less than anticipated on city salaries and wages in the current fiscal year, and will take in $386 million more in tax revenue.
Among dozens of other changes and revenue-raising actions, she also proposed a plan to rent out space in the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, expand the city’s red light camera program, and aggressive audits of the city Department of Education’s consulting contracts.
Nacha Cattan also contributed to this report.
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