Eric Adams’ veteran former top deputy said Sunday that lefty Mayor Zohran Mamdani made “rookie mistakes” in his budget planning, which has already spooked crucial bond-rating agencies.
Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings warned last week that they are deeply concerned Mamdani wants to raid the city’s emergency-reserve funds to balance the budget.
If the top-rated agencies downgrade the city’s credit rating, that could lead to higher interest rates for the Big Apple when it comes to it issuing bonds — or raising money — to pay for capital construction programs, he said.
“It’s a self-inflicted wound by a new administration,” ex-Mayor Adams’ first deputy, Randy Mastro, told The Post.
“We’re not in a budget crisis. We should not be dipping into reserves and threatening tax increases,” Mastro said.
The ex-top mayoral aide, who also appeared Sunday on 77 WABC radio’s “The Cats Roundtable,” said it is clear that “the mayor is learning on the job.
“Some of the mistakes are rookie mistakes.”
He also claimed that Mamdani’s full-court press to raise taxes instead of taming spending to balance the budget is counterproductive.
“He’s created a crisis-like atmosphere around the city budget,” Mastro told host John Catsimatidis.
“That was an unforced error because the city isn’t in crisis. Its budget isn’t in crisis.
“The fact that he wants to spend $11 billion to $12 billion more and generate higher taxes to pay for it doesn’t mean the city is in a crisis. It is not,” Mastro said.
Mamdani is lobbying Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature to help cover what he says is a $5.4 billion budget deficit in his $127 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1, using an array of tax increases.
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The mayor vowed to push to increase property taxes by 9.5% if Albany doesn’t approve the other tax hikes targeting wealth. Virtually all tax increases must clear the legislature in Albany, except for property tax rates, which the mayor and City Council set for the Big Apple.
“[Mamdani is] trying to force tax increases on New Yorkers, corporations and property taxes for the wealthiest,” Mastro said. “We shouldn’t be raising taxes. It’s not good for the local economy.”
Wealthy people have the mobiity to leave the city and state to escape higher taxes, he said.
“When you’re mayor, you have to make tough choices. You can’t fund every program you’d like to fund. You have to live within your means,” Mastro said.
Mastro said drawing down reserve funds where there isn’t a financial emergency is short-sighted.
