Kat’s bailing herself out.
Gov. Kathy Hochul defended the state’s $4 billion bailout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City budget Wednesday, as critics slammed it as a vote-buying giveaway at the expense of the rest of the state.
New Yorkers should be “glad” that the Big Apple’s finances – which Mamdani contended faced a $5.4 billion shortfall – are going to be stable, according to the governor.
Gov. Kathy Hochul defended the state’s $4 billion bailout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City budget. Stephen Yang for NY Post“Thousands of Long Islanders work in New York City” she told LI News Radio’s Jay Oliver. “They don’t want New York City to be on unsound fiscal footing.”
Mamdani triumphantly unveiled his behemoth $124.7 billion budget Tuesday, hours after he and Hochul jointly highlighted $4 billion in “gap-closing” state funding.
The aid, however, was actually a grab bag of mostly short-term fixes – including a can-kicking plan to delay pension payments – and a new pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes riddled with question marks.
And Republican lawmakers from the suburbs and upstate quickly piled on, arguing the bailout lacked real belt-tightening by Mamdani and just encourages higher taxes and spending for all in the Empire State.
“Hochul is buying votes $1 billion at a time,” sneered upstate Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown), noting Hochul, a Democrat, is running for re-election this fall.
Borrello worried that the new pied-a-terre tax Hochul approved for owners of luxury second homes in New York City will be extended to resort towns elsewhere. J.C. Rice for NY PostHe’s worried that the new pied-a-terre tax Hochul approved for owners of luxury second homes in New York City will be extended to resort towns elsewhere.
“We don’t want bad ideas in NYC spreading like cancer to the rest of the state,” Borrello said.
“The answer is always more tax and more spending.”
Hochul played defense on the radio show, insisting the assistance for Mamdani and the city budget would not come at the expense of other regions of the state.
For example, Hochul noted she recently earmarked an additional $125 million to the city public school system on top of what she proposed in her executive budget plan.
But she said all school districts will receive more funding this year, including more than 400 that have declining enrollment.
Hochul also said she increased assistance to other upstate cities.
Long Island state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-Riverhead) called the Big Apple bailout “outrageous,” given city budget has ballooned seemingly without accountability.
“They’re kicking the can down the road. There’s no end in sight,” Palumbo said.
“It’s complete insanity.”
