Mamdani urges King Charles to return rare diamonds
Asked what he would say to King Charles if he had the chance, New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani said he would ask the king to return the rare diamonds to India.
Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s budget is due this week, but it’s still not entirely clear how the more than $5 billion gap will be filled.
New York City is scheduled to release its executive budget on Tuesday, May 12th, with an extended deadline. However, it is still unclear which services will receive the reduction (or increase).
Here’s what you need to know about budget gaps and what to expect as the deadline approaches.
How big is New York City’s budget gap?
One of Mamdani’s biggest challenges since taking office, a huge funding gap in the city’s more than $120 billion budget, is about to come to a head.
Late last month, he asked the state for help closing a deficit estimated at about $5.4 billion, according to Politico’s Playbook.
The executive budget deadline was scheduled for Friday, May 1, but Mamdani and Speaker Julie Menin extended the fiscal year 2027 deadline to May 12 after the city indicated it was awaiting passage of the New York state budget.
In seeking budget aid from the state, Mamdani’s administration wants to reduce the tax credit for New York City pass-through entities from 100 percent to 75 percent, with the city keeping the remaining 25 percent.
The changes will put approximately $1 billion back into the city’s pockets and “continue to save New York City residents federal taxes,” the city said in a news release.
In February, Mr. Hochul pledged to send an additional $1.5 billion to New York City over two years to help with the fiscal crisis. But her office isn’t ready to cut pass-through credits.
However, she quickly put a stop to that idea when she was countered by the latest call from Mamdani.
“We have no intention of changing PTET,” she said at a press conference on Tuesday. “That’s not happening.” He added that New York City officials “have to do what other cities are doing” in reviewing spending.
The governor’s reprimand followed a partnership between his office and the Mamdani administration on another funding proposal.
Mamdani and Hochul recently unveiled the pied-à-terre tax. It would add an annual tax on one- to three-unit homes, condos and co-ops worth more than $5 million if the owners have another primary residence outside the city. The move is expected to raise about $500 million for the city, officials said.
“We can’t close this deficit with savings alone. We need new revenue. And we need a structural reset in our relationship with the state,” Mamdani said at a press conference in April, asking Gov. Kathy Hochul for more support.
“That’s the only way we can meet our legal obligation to pass a balanced budget without imposing an economic burden on working people.”
Why does New York City have a budget gap?
Mamdani’s administration claimed that former Mayor Eric Adams’ “astounding fiscal mismanagement has left a $12 billion hole in New York City’s budget for the next two fiscal years.”
He called the gap the “Adams budget crisis” and said the deficit had been “consistently and deliberately underestimated.”
In January, Adams spokesman Todd Shapiro denied responsibility.
“Eric Adams took the economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus, one of the most severe economic crises in New York City’s history, and returned us to one of the healthiest and best economies New York City has seen in years,” Shapiro told The New York Times earlier this year.
