Make New York Post a Preferred Source The Big Apple’s budget has ballooned to almost $130 billion this year — as the Mamdani administration continues to fall short of its savings goals, officials said Thursday.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city budget increased by more than $3 billion to $129.2 billion, according to City Hall’s mid-year financial update, a long-time requirement for officials to balance the budget throughout the year.
The newly modified financial plan also shows nearly $1 billion in unexpected tax revenue due to a booming Wall Street since June alone.
New York City Mayor Zorhan Mamdani released the modified budget for NYC Thursday. Paul Martinka for NY Post The Mamdani administration has yet to release a comprehensive savings plan that shows how city agencies will hit 2.5% in cuts that were ordered up by the mayor.
Thursday’s announcement included a paltry $429 million in cuts for the fiscal year — or .33% of the revised spending plan.
The city’s Department of Education is expected to spend more than $400 million more than previously budgeted.
The mayor had vowed to trim a whopping $13 billion in spending for outside contractors, but the only saving the DOE found was $19 million in “less than anticipated” spending on school safety officers.
Mamdani still praised the spending plan as reflecting “fiscal responsibility and public excellence.”
“We are investing in the essential services New Yorkers rely on to protect their health, safety and wellbeing, while pursuing an aggressive savings plan to put our city on stronger financial footing so that our city can deliver for generations to come,” he said.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a budget that was more than $3 billion less back in June. James Keivom for NY Post While the mayor’s office said it found $2.5 million in savings, its overall budget was expected to increase by $3 million.
The city still faces a $6.2 billion budget shortfall next year and roughly $9 billion in the two following.
The financial update Thursday came with a bump of $3.3 billion in city spending compared to the $125.8 billion budget adopted for fiscal year 2027 back in June.
City Hall said the jump represents a mix of new spending with $1.15 billion from city coffers, $1.48 billion from the feds, and $635 million injection from the state.
Mamdani issued an order at the start of his tenure for city agencies to find 2.5% in savings across the board at every city agency.
But that admin has refused to release details of those plans, rejecting dozens of records requests, despite the mayor declaring they would be made public.
Mamdani’s first budget in office skyrocketed by more than $10 billion compared to the approved spending plan in Eric Adams final year as mayor.
“This is an update, not a plan to stabilize the budget,” said Andrew Rein, of the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission.
“Disappointingly, four months after the Mayor directed agencies to find savings, what’s included is a small fraction of the target,” Rein added. “Only a quarter of those are actions that increase government efficiency, which is where the focus should be to save money and preserve services.”
