Mamdani, NYC Council reach handshake deal on colossal $126B budget — without NYPD expansion

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani struck a last-minute handshake deal on Tuesday morning with City Council Speaker Julie Menin on the Big Apple’s colossal, nearly $126 billion budget for next year — but the agreement notably leaves out an expanded headcount for the NYPD.

The final deal comes right before a July 1 deadline to pass a budget for the 2027 fiscal year — and after a tense, protracted negotiation that nearly fell apart at the eleventh hour over Mamdani backtracking on a campaign promise to fund the expansion of a housing voucher program.

However, Mamdani and the council came to a last-minute agreement Monday night as part of the $125.8 billion spending deal to expand voucher access that will see the council voting to establish a new rental assistance program aimed at helping New Yorkers facing eviction or in the shelter system who aren’t eligible for the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement program.

The program, which will be run by the Department of Housing Preservation & Development, comes with a $175 million price tag, adding to the $1.7 billion already on the books. 

Once the legislation passes, the Mamdani administration has agreed to drop its appeal of a lawsuit brought by the City Council after former Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of the expansion was overridden in 2024 and he refused to enact the approved reforms.

“Every New Yorker deserves a safe, affordable home, and this agreement will help more families avoid eviction and homelessness,” said Speaker Julie Menin.

“Our historic announcement includes the administration dropping their lawsuit against the council and a new bill which addresses some of the fiscal concerns. Housing vouchers are a smart investment that save taxpayers money by preventing homelessness before it happens,” Menin added.

The cost of housing vouchers has ballooned exponentially. In 2019, the program only cost a mere $25 million annually, but it could eventually spike under to nearly $4 billion a year under the expansion, budget hawks have warned.  

The spending plan’s contours are expected to closely match Mamdani’s $124.7 billion executive budget unveiled in May, but with more spending earmarked for council members — and without the promised NYPD headcount boost after the mayor caved to activists who protested the increase, sources said.

Hizzoner claimed his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, was able to find a way to meet the department’s staffing needs without the extra cops. 

But Council leaders, who fought publicly for the added headcount, did not agree with the cut.

“I strongly disagree with this decision and am deeply concerned about the public safety implications of walking away from a commitment that would have put more officers on our streets,” said Menin.

Council Minority Leader David Carr also piled on. 

“Though the administration would love for us to believe that headcount in the NYPD is just fine, I’ve heard from 20 plus year veteran officers who have put back on foot patrol because the NYPD doesn’t have adequate personnel,” said Carr (R-Staten Island).

“Mamdani is playing a dangerous shell game with public safety, and New Yorkers are the ones who are going to lose.”

Mamdani allies and activists slammed Hizzoner for proposing to swell the police department’s ranks by 580 officers after he made a campaign pledge to freeze the NYPD’s staffing levels. Around 50 elected officials and advocates, including the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, gathered around City Hall last Thursday to protest his about-face.

City Council leadership, however, has pushed to expand New York’s Finest. They were at first successful, getting Mamdani’s executive budget proposal to boost the ranks from the current 33,861 to 35,370 in the 2027 fiscal year.

But ultimately, Mamdani sided with the protesters.

Meanwhile, the city’s Department of Education will likely draw the biggest portion of funding, with $37.9 billion outlined in the executive budget.

Other anticipated outlays include $14.6 billion for the city’s Department of Social Services and $6.59 billion in NYPD funding.

The young, untested socialist Mamdani quickly turned the focus to the budget after taking office by sounding the alarm about a supposed $12 billion upcoming shortfall, blaming his predecessor, Adams, for the crunch.

He has since revised the estimate to $5.4 billion — a still-dire gap that he argued could be bridged either by taxing the rich or hiking property taxes nearly 10% across the board.

Critics argued that Mamdani’s ultimatum was a tactic to push a tax on the wealthy through the state Legislature.

Ultimately, Gov. Kathy Hochul helped serve up $4 billion in largely kick-the-can measures to delay massive spending.

The governor also paved the way for a pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes that she and Mamdani claimed would raise $500 million a year, a figure that city Comptroller Mark Levine argued was roughly $200 million too high.