Both the city and state\u2019s gargantuan budgets are \u201cunaffordable and unprepared\u201d in the wake of a potential recession and impending cuts from the feds, a fiscal watchdog group said Thursday \u2014 sounding the alarm on massive overspending.<\/p>\n
The Citizen Budget Commission recommended nixing Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s pet project, the $2 billion dollar \u201cinflation reduction checks\u201d approved as part of the state\u2019s record-high\u00a0$254 billion budget<\/a>\u00a0for next year.<\/p>\n The nonpartisan group also ripped mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani\u2019s signature plan to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and businesses \u2014 an essential policy to pay for the socialist\u2019s pie-in-the-sky platform of $10 billion in new spending. <\/p>\n The Citizen Budget Commission said that the state should get rid of the $2 billion dollar \u201cinflation reduction checks.\u201d James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not raid rainy day funds and we should hold the line on taxes,\u201d said Ana Champeny, vice president for research at the CBC.<\/p>\n Neither the state\u2019s whopping spending plan nor the city\u2019s giant, near $116 billion budget<\/a> is putting away enough in reserves and are still short to cover their freebie-filled budgets, according to the CBC\u2019s briefing<\/a>.<\/p>\n The watchdog group warned that the mayor elected in November will have to close a $6 to $8 billion budget gap just 16 days into their term due to underbudgeting, overspending \u2014 and impending costs from the state\u2019s class size law mandate.<\/p>\n Similarly, it said the state still has a structural budget gap of nearly $22 billion dollars, which could increase due to federal cuts. <\/p>\n New York Post cover for Wednesday, July 16, 2025. rfaraino<\/p>\n \u201cThe real finding with this budget, at the state level is that it spends too much and prepares too little for the future,\u201d said Patrick Oreki, the CBC\u2019s state policy director.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters following a cabinet meeting in Albany on Thursday, Hochul claimed she was already being fiscally prudent by reducing her free check handouts from $3 billion to $2 billion.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we had some instinct that this would happen, something would happen,\u201d Hochul said regarding the impact of the recently-passed federal \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d which will slash federal funds to states including New York.<\/p>\n NY State Governor Kathy Hochul and NYC Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos visit Walton High School in the Bronx, NY on July 16, 2025. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why our one time $3 billion inflation rebate is now a $2 billion inflation rebate, cutting a program that I believe in, but also trying to be cognizant of the fact that we may need that money for future challenges,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hochul, who is facing re-election next year, has publicly drawn a line in the sand when it comes to raising taxes \u2014 insisting that she won\u2019t approve hikes when recently repeatedly questioned about Mamdani\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n But the governor\u2019s budget director Blake Washington, during a press gaggle last week, didn\u2019t rule out raising taxes to pad the spending plan.<\/p>\n New York State Assemblymember and New York City Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference announcing District Council 37\u2019s endorsement of Mamdani for mayor at DC 37 headquarters on July 15, 2025 in New York City. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, you really just get down to the fundamental \u2013 do you want to raise taxes to build or just to cover up for the mistakes of others,\u201d Washington said, referencing potential dwindling federal funds.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get more and more information under our belt, then we\u2019ll have a better sense of what the best approach is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hochul\u2019s spokesperson Kristin Devoe defended the budget deal in a statement Thursday, arguing it \u201cprioritizes efforts that make New York safer and more affordable for all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe budget includes language that gives the Governor the ability to make mid-year\u00a0adjustments if needed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both the city and state\u2019s gargantuan budgets are \u201cunaffordable and unprepared\u201d in the wake of a potential recession…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":71276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,31361,49867,5371,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-71275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-budgets","10":"tag-citizens-budget-commission","11":"tag-kathy-hochul","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-us-news","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}