By New York Post (Opinion) | Created at 2026-06-19 10:39:37 | Updated at 2026-06-21 07:58:38
1 day ago
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference at the MTA Rail Control Center in New York, US, on Thursday, June 4, 2026.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Feel free to chuckle at the irony of Mayor Zohran Mamdani joining city Comptroller Mark Levine in calling for a City Charter amendment to ensure adequate Rainy Day Fund cash for the next emergency.
This is John Dillinger calling for better bank insurance.
Mamdani just sought to raid more than $3.25 billion from the city’s main reserves, after all.
And the city should have a much heftier Rainy Day Fund; it’s now just $2 billion, far short of the $15 billion the Citizens Budget Commission deems prudent, given Gotham’s $125 billion spending plan.
But the larger threat to the city’s long-term fiscal health is Mamdani’s drive to fund his socialist dreams.
No mandatory reserve minimum can solve the city’s structural budget woes.
Mamdani’s still-to-be-passed financial plan keeps spending out of the red for the coming year only thanks to new taxes, state aid, unexpected revenue and one-off gimmicks.
The state, for example, delayed its class-size mandates, saving $500 million this year but kicking those costs down the road.
In total, as Levine himself notes, the budget “relies on $2.8 billion in one-time measures and $2.3 billion in short-term pension savings” — but still leaves the city spending “more than we take in, even in a year of record revenues.”
The plan’s “structural imbalances,” he added, create monster shortfalls totaling $25 billion over the following three years.
It’s not that taxes are too low: The combined city and state income-tax rates are already the nation’s highest, and the mayor just added his pied-a-terre tax and hiked the unincorporated-business tax.
It’s the spending that’s out of control.
Indeed, the gimmicks to cover outlays now — like the stretch-out of pension-fund payments to fund new spending this year — are starting to resemble those that led the city to near-bankruptcy in the 1970s.
Here’s a better Charter-reform idea: Place serious handcuffs on spending hikes and budget tricks.
If Mamdani and Levine (or, heck, any New York pol) backed something like that, it would be real cause to cheer.
Anything less deserves your laughter, or maybe your tears.
