Monday, Feb. 16, marks the 47th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did.
On the eve of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first preliminary budget presentation, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $1.5 billion state funding commitment aimed at easing New York City’s mounting fiscal pressures and narrowing the projected $7 billion budget gap over the next two fiscal years.
Under the agreement, New York State will provide $1 billion in City Fiscal Year 2026 and $510 million in City Fiscal Year 2027, including $510 million in recurring funding.
The aid is intended to cover costs that shifted from the state to the city under prior administrations, according to a joint announcement by Hochul and Mamdani.
Roughly $300 million of the recurring funds will support youth programming, $150 million will restore sales-tax revenues that would otherwise have been retained by the state, and $60 million is earmarked for public health spending. An additional $500 million will be allocated toward shared state–city priorities to be determined in later negotiations.
“A strong New York City means a stronger New York State,” Hochul said in a statement, calling the funding a way to protect services and stabilize the city’s finances.
She framed the deal as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen cooperation between the state and city — messaging that comes after Mamdani spent a large portion of his testimony in Albany last week, accusing the state of “draining the city’s resources” amid what he described as a fiscally unbalanced relationship.
Speaking at Tin Cup Day, Mamdani argued that a structural imbalance in the fiscal relationship between the city and the state was among the root causes of NYC’s financial strain. He warned that Albany has increasingly shifted responsibilities onto the city without providing the recurring revenue needed to pay for them, forcing City Hall to rely on one-time aid and short-term fixes.
For her part, Hochul last week pushed back on calls for a broader overhaul of the state-city fiscal relationship, arguing that Albany has already stepped up its support for NYC each year since she took office. While she has framed that record as evidence that the state is meeting its obligations, she has remained firm in rejecting Mamdani’s calls to raise taxes on the wealthy and large corporations as part of the solution to plug the fiscal gaps.
Mamdani, who is set to outline his administration’s fiscal approach on Feb. 17, said he was “heartened by this budgetary progress and Governor Hochul’s partnership at this critical moment.”
“This is what it looks like to begin a new, productive, and fair relationship between City Hall and Albany – focused on delivering for working New Yorkers,” Mamdani said of the announcement.
Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said the additional funding from Hochul is a meaningful boost for City Hall, but not a cure-all.
“The increased State funding for NYC announced today is good news for the City,” said Rein. “The $1.5 billion will put a real dent in the City’s budget gap, which the Mayor said is $7 billion. Governor Hochul is rightly reversing some historical cost-shifts from the State to the City. Mayor Mamdani still has a heavy lift ahead of him to balance the budget. And while this is a fair thing for the State to do, the recurring support will widen future State budget gaps.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
