Critics pushed back on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed city budget Wednesday as it emerged he planned to cut $1 million from veterans services and events including a ticker-tape parade for former service men and women.
The Department of Veterans Services’ budget would drop from about $7.6 million in the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget to $6.6 million in Mamdani’s proposal for 2027 that he unveiled Tuesday — a reduction of more than 13%, according to city records.
Service-disabled Marine Corps veteran Osbert Orduna called the move “a slap in the face” to veterans, especially those living with visible and invisible wounds of war.
“It’s a slap in the face to veterans, to New Yorkers and more specifically to service-disabled veterans — people who have sacrificed their minds and their bodies in service to our nation and live in the city,” Orduna said.
City Council Member Frank Morano, who chairs the council’s Committee on Veterans, vowed to seek clarity on “exactly what’s being reduced, what’s being preserved and where any savings are ultimately going.”
The mayor’s savings plan also called for cutting $60,000 a year for veterans’ events from fiscal 2026 through 2030, with City Hall saying it will instead try to rely on private fundraising to pay for ceremonies.
“Veterans from across every generation — from World War II to the present — the one time that we can all come together, build our community and support one another is at these functions,” Orduna said.
“Many lives have been saved by veterans just coming together and finding comfort in one another, and connecting so that we don’t lose another veteran life — so another veteran does not add the word ‘homeless’ to the title of veteran,” he added.
One of the event changes includes scrapping a planned “Homecoming of Heroes” ticker-tape parade around the Sept. 11 anniversary and replacing it with a cheaper “Remembrance Ruck” march that was developed in consultation with veterans’ groups, according to a mayoral spokesperson.
Ryan Graham served in the US Air Force and now chairs the New York City Veterans Advisory Board. The ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he think veterans parades are “fluff” anyways.
“Events are fluff. That’s it, plain and simple,” Graham said, adding that he would rather see city money be put towards the Department of Veterans Services to help veterans with housing, mental health and food insecurity needs.
“I don’t want to see another Kyle or any other veterans take their lives because those services were not there,” Graham said referring to his high school buddy who served in the military and later committed suicide.
But within the Department of Veterans Services budget, the Mamdani administration proposed zeroing out a $585,000 “Other Expenses – General” line, cutting “Temporary Services” from $441,000 to $15,000, and trimming about $57,000 for supplies and materials.
Former Queens Council Member Bob Holden, who used to lead the City Council’s Committee on Veterans, told The Post on Wednesday that the city was insulting veterans.
“Replacing a ticker-tape parade with a cheaper event and then planning these so-called ‘savings’ for years ahead is insulting to the men and women who served this country and sacrificed for New York City,” Holden said. “The city has no problem wasting billions of dollars, but suddenly when it comes to honoring our veterans and 9/11 heroes, they want to pinch pennies.”
A mayoral spokesperson argued the changes will not affect essential services for veterans.
The City Council ultimately has to approve Mamdani’s budget plan.
Morano said funding for veterans in the city budget is still “woefully inadequate.”
“I’d love to see veterans become a much bigger priority for lawmakers at every level of government, not just during commemorative moments, but year round,” he said.
