Look what the Kat dragged in.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a whopping $124.7 billion executive budget for New York City on Tuesday – built on the back of $4 billion in funny money from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The governor’s bailout – announced hours before the city budget’s reveal – was quickly criticized as a fiction used to help out her reluctant ally Mamdani as she faces re-election and pressure to appease the lefty mayor’s comrades.
Mamdani, for his part, got to save face by backing away from his months-old threats to impose a nearly 10% property tax hike and drain the city’s reserves to help close a reputed $5.4 billion budget gap – both of which he warned would be necessary if his “tax the rich” dreams evaporated.
“Only fools believed our young mayor would follow through on a property tax hike and service cuts as his first act,” a New York City Democratic strategist said.
“The threat was tactical chess. The Governor blinked, so the gambit worked but he may have bankrupted his own credibility in the process.”
The supposed state assistance largely consisted of kick-the-can measures delaying massive spending, namely a move to restructure $2.2 billion in pension plan payments.
Hellbound and Down 