Legislative leaders quickly reject mayor’s fallback approach
Council Leadership Voices Immediate Opposition to Tax Increase
Hours after Mayor Mamdani unveiled his preliminary budget proposal on Tuesday, members of the New York City Council quickly expressed serious concerns about the proposed 9.5 percent property tax increase. City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Council Finance Committee Chair Linda Lee issued a joint statement within hours of the mayor’s presentation emphasizing that the council believed additional areas of savings and revenue deserved careful scrutiny before increasing the burden on small property owners and neighborhood small businesses.
The lawmakers warned that property tax increases could worsen the city’s affordability crisis at a time when housing costs already consume excessive portions of household income. Speaker Menin’s immediate response signaled that the council would work to identify alternative approaches during the budget negotiation process. Rather than accepting the mayor’s binary framing of either raising taxes on wealthy residents or raising property taxes, the speaker suggested that detailed examination of existing city spending could yield alternatives.
Concerns About Fairness and Impact
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, a Democrat, raised particular concerns about the impact on communities of color and families struggling with the city’s ongoing affordability crisis. Richards emphasized that the proposal runs counter to the mayor’s core campaign messaging around housing affordability and racial equity. The potential property tax increase would place significant financial strain on exactly the constituencies the mayor had campaigned to support.
Richards told reporters Tuesday: “Think about the senior citizens living on the margins already. We have a food insecurity issue. People are struggling out there and this is a nonstarter.” His strong language suggested that the mayor would face substantial political pushback from elected officials representing communities that had strongly supported his election.
Budget Watchdog and Conservative Opposition
Budget watchdogs and fiscal conservatives also weighed in quickly. Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, argued that the city should prioritize identifying spending that is not improving residents’ lives and should therefore be reduced. He stated that decreasing ineffective spending should be the first option discussed, not increasing taxes. Rein’s position suggested that additional opportunities for cost control might exist within city budgets.
City Council Minority Leader David Carr, a Staten Island Republican, called the property tax increase proposal fundamentally misguided and characterized it as using property tax threats to pressure state lawmakers to approve the mayor’s preferred revenue options. Carr noted the regressive nature of property taxation and questioned how a self-described progressive administration could advocate for what many economists consider among the most unfair tax structures.
Progressive Pressure for State Action
Progressive council members like Lincoln Restler expressed hope that Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers would approve the mayor’s request for state-level revenue authority. Restler suggested that additional state funding would reduce pressure on the city to implement painful fiscal actions. However, he also hinted that if state lawmakers failed to provide support, property tax increases might ultimately prove unavoidable.
The Democratic Socialists of America released a statement suggesting that failing to tax the wealthy would constitute a betrayal of progressive values and would fundamentally undermine the mayor’s affordability agenda. This pressure from the left indicates the competing demands the mayor faces while balancing fiscal responsibility with campaign promises to working-class New Yorkers.
Political Significance of Early Opposition
The speed and vigor of council opposition to the property tax proposal is politically significant. Rather than waiting for detailed budget review processes, key leaders immediately signaled that property tax increases would face substantial legislative obstacles. This early opposition increases the political cost of relying on property tax increases and appears designed to pressure the mayor toward finding alternative solutions or pushing harder for state revenue authority.
Budget Negotiation Timeline
The formal budget negotiation process is just beginning. The council’s response to the preliminary budget is due April 1. Detailed budget negotiations will occur during the following months, with final budget adoption required by June 30. The intensity of early opposition to property tax increases suggests these negotiations will be contentious and will require the mayor to either identify additional savings or convince state lawmakers to authorize revenue measures.
For more information, see NYC City Council website, Citizens Budget Commission, and ABC 7 New York coverage.
