NYC could be facing massive $8.8 billion budget gap next year, comptroller says

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Jun 9, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK – A dark cloud could be looming over the city’s fiscal situation, City Comptroller Mark Levine says — with a massive massive budget gap of $8.8 billion projected for next year.

That gap exceeds the mayor’s projected outer budget gap of $7.1 billion by almost two billion.

“In plain English, this all means that we are kicking a very big can into next year,” Levine said in prepared remarks shared with the Daily News ahead of his testimony before the City Council.

The city’s chief fiscal watchdog applauded Mayor Zohran Mamdani for balancing the $124.7 billion city budget without hiking property taxes or drawing down from the city’s rainy day fund — two proposals Mamdani put forward previously in his February preliminary budget plan.

Mamdani announced his budget proposal last month, trumpeting it as a victory that would put the city “back on firm financial footing.”

But Levine warned that the mayor closed the budget gap with one-time and temporary measures that could catch up to the city down the line.

The executive budget relies on $6.1 billion in one-time measures like pension re-amortization, delays in the state’s class size mandate and lower subsidies to the MTA, per the comptroller’s analysis. It also draws down prepayment of next year’s expenses — pre-paying 72% less than last year — by a massive $2.8 billion.

Altogether, the city is spending $4.4 billion more than it’s expected to bring in, Levine said.

And while the city’s economy remains strong, with Wall Street revenues at historical highs, potential economic instability and high inflation threaten that.

The Council, for their part, also came out with a new budget projection that estimated the city would rake in almost $2 billion more in tax revenue in the current and upcoming fiscal year that the mayor’s office has projected.

“The Council has maintained a measured and consistent view of the City’s fiscal outlook, prioritizing the identification of savings, efficiencies and revenue generators as ways to bridge potential budget gaps,” Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement. “This updated forecast confirms the overall resilience of the city’s economy and provides an opportunity to more fully fund priorities that address the affordability crisis, improve quality of life, and support working families.”