Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is already facing a hurdle to his freebie-filled agenda with a projected $2.18 billion budget shortfall — with bigger funding gaps possible in the years ahead, a new report said.
The budget shortfall could balloon to over $13 billion by 2029 due to underbudgeting of costs and sluggish economic growth, according to the report from outgoing comptroller Brad Lander.
Mamdani will inherit “a challenging fiscal situation” as he also faces potential federal funding cuts and contract negotiations with the Police Benevolent Association and DC 37, the city’s largest municipal union, Lander said in his annual State of the City’s Economy and Finances report.
Lander, a Mamdani ally, is now running for Congress as a progressive challenger to incumbent Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman.
“From the looks of this, the mayor-elect’s choice for Congress gave a report card on what he has to deal with and there’s no good news,” longtime democratic strategist Bill Cunningham said.
“On Day One, Mayor Mamdani will be confronted with nothing but fiscal problems to deal with before even trying to get additional funds.”
A rep for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.
Mamdani has pledged over $10 billion in new spending for his agenda, which he primarily wants to fund through hiking taxes on corporations and the wealthy.
The report also notes that over the last three years, expenses have outpaced city revenues, in part due to federal pandemic aid and surge in asylum seekers across the Big Apple.
Mayor Adams inherited an ever larger $5.4 billion budget shortfall from former mayor and groundhog killer Bill de Blasio which contributed to early budget cuts.
An Adams spokesperson said the administration’s policies “have set the table for a thriving economy” as “strong fiscal management has produced a stable city budget.”
The spokesperson pointed to recent AA bond ratings from the agencies Moody’s Ratings, S&P Global Ratings, Fitch Ratings and KBRA — grades that are often viewed as indicators of a municipality’s financial strength and can drive a government entity’s borrowing power.
“It’s clear that we are leaving the next administration with a strong foundation for success.” the spokesperson added.
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