By The New York Post Editorial Board
As alarm bells keep ringing about New York City’s finances, Mayor Zohran Mamdani still insists the only answer is for someone to give him more money to spend.
Two more bond-rating outfits — Fitch and Kroll — joined Moody’s last Friday in declaring the city’s outlook “negative”; the next step is a drop in Gotham’s bond rating, which will push up borrowing costs.
That prompted city Comptroller Mark Levine to repeat his opposition to Mamdani’s plan to grab $1.2 billion from the city’s “rainy day” reserve; that cash is meant for an actual emergency, not to fund a new mayor’s wish list.
At a City Council hearing this month, Levine warned that city expenses are growing faster than revenues; he puts the budget gap above $7 billion — $2 billion more than Mamdani claimed in his January budget.
“It’s very simple. We’re spending more money than we’re bringing in,” Levine told CBS News over the weekend.
Then again, Levine’s too progressive to do more than dance around the (obvious) need to cut spending; he joins the mayor in hoping to get more money from the state, then resorts to vague talk of “identifying savings” and “sustaining” spending growth when he means restraining it.
Mamdani hasn’t offered any fresh thoughts since dropping a “helpful” list of taxes that the Legislature or City Council could increase to gin up more cash for him to spend.
He’d rather “tax the rich,” but is willing to tax everyone: Whatever it takes!
It’s obvious he’s decided to wait until he learns how much more Albany is going to rain down on him before he even thinks about what else to do.
But the state’s set to blow well past its April 1 budget deadline, which means City Hall will be stuck scrambling fast when Mamdani finally realizes that no one’s going to wave any magic wands for him.
Mamdani’s only NYC budget idea is wishing for all the cash he wants to spend https://t.co/w7MEcp9XH3 pic.twitter.com/b0nNJv8haT
— NY Post Opinion (@NYPostOpinion) March 23, 2026
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