A MAN WHO MURDERED HIS GIRLFRIEND and then impersonated her and used her money has been sentenced to 26 years to life in prison.
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Month: August 2026
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first appearance before the state Financial Control Board brought praise Wednesday for making New York City’s budget more transparent, but also repeated warnings that the city still faces a persistent gap between what it spends and what it earns.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and City Comptroller Mark Levine credited the Mamdani administration with putting billions of dollars in previously underbudgeted expenses onto the books, while cautioning that the city continues to rely on temporary measures and prior-year surpluses to balance its budget.
The reception marked a departure from the board’s meeting with Mamdani’s predecessor a year earlier, when fiscal officials criticized then-Mayor Eric Adams’ administration for chronically underbudgeting billions of dollars in known expenses.
On Wednesday, the FCB — formed in the wake of New York City’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s to provide a state level of spending control and ensure City Hall’s budget is always balanced — credited Mamdani with bringing much of that spending onto the books, while warning that doing so has exposed rather than resolved the city’s longer-term fiscal problems.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who chairs the board, framed the state as a partner in helping Mamdani deal with the fiscal situation he inherited.
“When the Mayor inherited a significant budget deficit that threatened the services that New York City relies on, I thought it was our responsibility to step up, help City Hall close the gap, get the city on stable financial footing and preserve the city’s access to capital markets,” Hochul said in opening remarks.
She said that the partnership had also allowed the state and city to advance a “shared affordability agenda” and pledged to continue investing in it.
DiNapoli said more than $6.4 billion in previously underbudgeted expenses were incorporated into the fiscal year 2027 plan, including costs for public assistance, rental assistance,
Metropolitan Transportation Authority subsidies and overtime. More than $10 billion in new agency needs were added to the fiscal 2027 budget over the past year, he said.
The board was reviewing the city’s adopted fiscal 2027 budget, totaling $125.8 billion.
Board staff said the city ended fiscal 2026 with a $1.96 billion surplus that was used to prepay fiscal 2027 debt service. But fiscal 2026 still reflected an underlying operating deficit of $1.8 billion after accounting for prepayments carried forward from prior years — the fourth consecutive year with an operating deficit and the largest since fiscal 2020.
The city projects budget gaps of $6.4 billion in fiscal 2028, $8.2 billion in fiscal 2029, and $8.5 billion in fiscal 2030. The Financial Control Board estimates a potential $6.7 billion gap in fiscal 2028.
DiNapoli said those pressures are emerging despite strong revenues. City-fund revenue exceeded projections made when the fiscal 2026 budget was adopted by $5 billion, aided by strong Wall Street profits and tax collections.
“Concerningly, despite slow but steady economic growth, better than projected revenues were not enough to close the gap once expenses were properly budgeted,” DiNapoli said.
Levine similarly praised Mamdani for “largely ending the practice of under budgeting known costs,” but said the plan still relies on $6.1 billion in short-term and one-time measures, including pension reamortization, state aid and accounting adjustments.
“Those measures closed gaps in the near term, but did not resolve the underlying imbalance between what the city spends and what it takes in every year,” Levine said.
Both comptrollers welcomed Mamdani’s July directive setting a 2.5% savings target for city agencies. Levine said the target applies to city tax-levy funding annually through fiscal 2030 and estimated it could save as much as $1.5 billion a year, depending on exemptions.
But Levine also faulted the city for failing to make a deposit to its rainy day fund during a year of record tax revenues. Under a formula proposed by his office, he said, a deposit would have ranged from $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion.
The city’s reserve policy could change at the ballot box in November.
One of five proposed City Charter changes unanimously approved last month by Mamdani’s government-efficiency panel would set a reserve target equal to 12% of city tax revenue from the previous fiscal year and require the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the comptroller, to develop a methodology for making deposits while reserves remain below that level.
DiNapoli called that proposal a first step but urged the city to develop a more robust reserve policy, while Levine has previously called for a 16% reserve target.
Private board member Marjorie Henning said the amount of surplus carried from one fiscal year into the next is now the lowest in a decade and called the trend evidence of an “ongoing and growing structural budget imbalance.”
Henning also warned that reductions in the city’s general and labor reserves, along with the elimination of the capital reserve, would limit the city’s flexibility to respond to an economic slowdown or federal funding cuts without reducing services.
Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, another private member of the board, struck a more encouraging note, praising Mamdani for ordering agencies to find savings early in the fiscal year rather than waiting until later. He said the 2.5% target “gives us all comfort.”
Economic optimism
Mamdani, in his opening remarks, lauded Albany’s “new era of collaboration” with NYC and highlighted signs of economic strength, including high labor force participation, recovering transit ridership, declining office vacancies, and strong Wall Street profits.
What did not emerge from the meeting was how Mamdani intends to close the multibillion-dollar gaps beyond finding savings or whether doing so will test the partnership Hochul touted at the start of the meeting.
The New York Post reported last month, citing sources familiar with City Hall’s plans, that Mamdani was preparing a campaign beginning after Labor Day to press Albany for higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations ahead of the 2027 legislative session.
The Post reported that the push could put Mamdani at odds with Hochul. A spokesperson for the governor told the newspaper that she would consider additional revenue when necessary to solve a “real problem,” but “won’t support policies that make it harder for families, workers, or employers to stay and succeed in New York.”
Any renewed tax push would also land as Hochul seeks reelection this fall. A Siena University poll released Wednesday found the Democratic governor leading Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman 49% to 39% among likely voters statewide, including a 64% to 19% advantage in New York City.
Mamdani was viewed favorably by 69% of likely city voters and unfavorably by 24% in the same Siena poll. Statewide, likely voters were more closely divided, with 47% viewing him favorably and 44% unfavorably.
A broader debate over new taxes did not surface on Wednesday. DiNapoli and Mamdani briefly cited the city’s newly authorized “second home surcharge,” commonly known as the pied-à-terre tax, the rollout of which is currently being challenged in a Staten Island court.
Despite the warnings, the Financial Control Board ultimately determined that the city is not experiencing the level of fiscal stress that would trigger stricter state oversight. Staff found none of the statutory conditions requiring a new control period had occurred, and the board approved that determination.
After the comptrollers and board members delivered their assessments, Hochul asked Mamdani whether he wanted to respond.
“I appreciate them,” Mamdani said.
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