At a time when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other municipal leaders are grappling with budget holes, Gov. Kathy Hochul is giving out even more cash.
The Democratic governor’s proposed budget is growing to $262.7 billion, officials said, and she plans to dole out more money to community health clinics and municipalities around the state.
Hochul’s largesse was revealed in amendments to her executive budget that were posted Thursday. She already announced $1.5 billion in additional assistance for New York City, where Mamdani is now facing a $5.4 billion deficit in the current and coming fiscal years.
Hochul, a former Erie County clerk, said on Thursday that the state will increase aid to other municipalities by $100 million.
“Having spent years in local government, I understand the unique challenges our local leaders are experiencing,” she said in a statement. “We want all of New York's municipalities to succeed, and this funding is crucial to putting all of our cities, towns and villages on stronger financial footing and allowing them to keep their residents safe and continue providing the vital services they rely on.”
Mamdani said Tuesday that he would need to raise property taxes by 9.5% to plug New York City’s deficit unless state lawmakers let him raise income taxes on the rich. Hochul, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said she was cool to both ideas.
“I don't support a property tax increase on New Yorkers, and I'm not wavering from my position that I don't want to drive more people out of our state by increasing taxes from what is already a high tax state,” the governor said.
Republicans in the state Senate attacked Hochul for giving outsized aid to the five boroughs.
“New York City does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem,” wrote state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Niagara County Republican, and more than a dozen of his GOP colleagues. “Providing a bailout will only reward irresponsible behavior, which will lead to more bad behavior in the future.”
Hochul’s new proposal would funnel an extra $10 million to Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers. Buffalo, where she owns a home, would receive a total of $40 million in extra funds as it contends with a structural deficit. News of the aid to the Queen City was first reported by The Buffalo News.
Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan, a former state senator who took office in January, said the added dollars will let his administration develop a multiyear plan to tackle the city’s deficit.
“This support from New York state allows us to balance this year’s books without additional borrowing and reduces the pressure on Buffalo taxpayers in the years ahead,” he said.
During a budget hearing last week, Ryan and other mayors from across New York warned of budget cuts unless the state increased operating aid. New York Conference of Mayors Executive Director Barbara Van Epps thanked Hochul for hearing their cry.
“We like to say we all have the same problem, just on different scales,” she said.
