City Faces Budget Crisis: Mamdani Administration Misses $1.7B Savings Target by a Wide Margin

In a surprising turn of events, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration unveiled a modest $200 million in proposed savings on Wednesday, falling significantly short of the ambitious $1.7 billion he had previously promised. This shortfall brought the mayor’s budget director under intense scrutiny as officials questioned the lack of substantial cuts.

Despite the gap in savings, Mamdani maintained his characteristic flair by releasing a slick social media video. In the clip, he humorously depicted himself discovering government funds hidden in unlikely places like couch cushions and bookshelves, all in an effort to showcase his commitment to reducing waste.

However, when faced with real-world inquiries, the mayor insisted that the administration had indeed achieved the $1.7 billion in cuts necessary to address the city’s looming budget challenges. Yet, he failed to produce concrete evidence to substantiate this claim.

Adding to the anticipation, Mamdani noted that New Yorkers might have to wait until the end of April, coinciding with the release of the mayor’s executive budget, to see the full extent of the proposed financial savings.

The drive to identify savings is critical as Mamdani’s financial advisors predict the city will need to bridge a significant $5.4 billion budget deficit. In light of this, Mamdani has proposed a hefty $127 billion budget, framing the shortfall as a crisis that necessitates action from Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislators. Earlier in February, Mamdani issued a bold ultimatum to the governor, urging her to increase taxes on the wealthy or face the prospect of a 9.5% property tax hike for New York City homeowners.

Mamdani, who is pitching a behemoth $127 billion proposed budget, has cast the shortfall as a crisis that requires Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to tax the rich. In February, Mamdani even gave the governor a stunning ultimatum: raise taxes on the wealthy or New York City homeowners will face a 9.5% property tax increase.

But the socialist mayor has also made moves — or, according to critics, paid lip service — toward reining in spending.

He signed an executive order directing each city agency to appoint a “Chief Savings Officer” to comb through budgets to find a combined $1.7 billion to help plug the hole.

Those specially appointed officers were supposed to provide a “public report” of their findings by March 20, but the deadline slipped by without a peep.

Instead, Mamdani’s administration officials on Wednesday released a list of minor cuts totaling $200 million, which the mayor summarized in his social media media.

Among the meager cuts were:

• TLC cancelling its $20,000 Slack messaging subscription next fiscal year
• DOE will save $30.3 million in 2027 by implementing spending caps and canceling “underutilized” contracts, but offer up no specifics
• DOE will also save $27.5 million by creating “controls” to curb spending with “supplies, equipment, professional development and travel”
• NYC Emergency Management will switch up software to save $133,000
• Health and Hospitals will cut overtime and ramp up collections to save $14.1 million this year and $25.7 million next year
• Economic Development Corporation will save $626,000 by bringing marketing in-house
• Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will save $1.15 million next year by renegotiating naloxone contract
• DOC will save $4.3 million by bringing some contracts in-house as well

City Hall officials refused to release the reports or any more information on the cuts, telling The Post to trust that they have hit their targets.

Hizzoner’s budget director Sherif Soliman took the same approach during his delayed budget hearing with skeptical City Council members, declining to give any more information.

Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) and finance chair Linda Lee (D-Queens) pressed Soliman for the full list of savings, only to be met with squishy half-promises.

The budget chief did tease that he “may opt” to share more information about the cuts.

“We are evaluating. As soon as we have additional updates that are ready to share we may opt to share them,” he said in response to a question from Lee.

Soliman, like the mayor, said the cuts will be identified in the mayor’s executive budget set to be sent to the City Council by April 26.

“They’ve put forward $1.7 billion in savings, and we are going through all of the different recommendations from the agencies and the departments to approve the number of those recommendations,” Mamdani told reporters during a news conference.

“We’ve shared some of those approvals, but… at the time when we release this budget, it will all be public.”

Councilman Phil Wong (D-Queens) argued Mamdani needed to find much more than $1.7 billion in cuts — and noted city officials only provided information on roughly 15% of that.

“Some of the items highlighted, including cuts as small as a $20,000 software subscription, raise real questions about the scale of this effort,” he said in a statement. “Even if the full $1.7 billion is realized, it still falls well short of the multi billion dollar gaps projected in the years ahead.

“New Yorkers deserve transparency. They deserve to know what savings are real, what is recurring, and what is simply being counted as savings.”

Budget watchdogs gave Mamdani credit for working to find savings, but argued he needed to go further.

“The list is a good start, but it’s just that, a start,” said Andrew Rein, the president of the Citizens Budget Commission. “The administration will have to go much further than the $1.7 billion target — and there’s plenty of opportunity.

“This administration must be as ambitious about government efficiency as it is about affordability. That means real transformation on how we run government, and not spending money that doesn’t help New Yorkers. An efficient government is an affordable one.”