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City comptroller sees risk in NYC Mayor Mamdani's budget plan
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Mar 11, 2026
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Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Brooklyn Academy Of Music
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Mar 11, 2026
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Comptroller Mark Levine will offer a sobering assessment of New York City's fiscal health on Wednesday, warning the Mamdani administration’s preliminary spending plan takes an overly optimistic view of projected revenues and proposes risky paths for closing a looming budget gap.
“New York City is spending more money than it takes in,” Levine said, previewing his planned testimony at the City Council’s preliminary budget hearing.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his $127 billion preliminary budget proposal last month. He has urged state lawmakers to increase income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations, saying if that effort fails, the city would have to raise property taxes by 9.5%.
But both options face tough odds. In Albany, Gov. Kathy Hochul has steadfastly opposed an income tax hike, arguing such a move would drive wealthy people out of the state.
In the City Council, Speaker Julie Menin has called the property tax proposal a “nonstarter.” Many other councilmembers have also criticized the measure.
Levine’s office said the city faces a $6.5 billion gap next year, assuming neither option is adopted. That gap is worse than the Mamdani administration’s projected gap of $5.4 billion.
“We have a structural imbalance that this reveals right in a year where the economy is growing, where revenue is growing, income tax, property tax, all growing,” Levine warned.
He also cautioned that Mamdani’s proposed property tax increase approaches the ceiling of what’s permissible under the state constitution. Levine said raising property taxes might be an option best saved for a graver economic moment.
“We're once again leaving ourselves without a tool we might want to use if there's a true crisis ahead,” the comptroller said.
Levine cited the city’s rental assistance program, which he said was expected to cost nearly $2.6 billion next year, as an example of how the city’s expenses were growing faster than its revenues. That’s more than the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s entire expense budget, which is currently just over $2 billion.
Levine’s analysis also warned of looming fiscal threats, including geopolitical instability and the possibility of an artificial intelligence bubble in the stock market that could cause major job losses if it bursts.
The comptroller did praise Mamdani for a budget Levine said more accurately reflects the true cost of key programs. He said former Mayor Eric Adams' administration underestimated expenses and “papered over” structural problems. Mayors have long been criticized for playing games with preliminary budgets so they can later cast themselves as heroes saving the city from fiscal disaster.
Tagged
Politics
Zohran Mamdani
economy
mark levine
new york city
taxes
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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