Dan Mannarino: Mayor Zohran Mamdani has painted a grim picture for New York City's budget, which now has a $12 billion budget deficit to fill. Mayor Mamdani pointed the finger at previous administrations, while saying that he will deliver an on-time, balanced budget on February 17th. So, the question is how? The mayor is joining me now live to talk about this and make an announcement. Mr. Mayor, great to see you.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Great to see you as well. Thank you for having me.
Mannarino: Of course, and great to have you here in studio. I think it's your first as mayor so it's great to have you here. Before we get to the announcement and the budget, I do want to talk about what we saw play out in Brooklyn last night at the synagogue there. Any indication as the investigation plays out that that individual is looking to commit a hate crime?
Mayor Mamdani: So, it's currently being investigated. I have to say, I was there on the scene last night at 770 Chabad World Headquarters and it was a horrifying incident where a man repeatedly and intentionally crashed his car into the building and I am so thankful that no one was hurt and we know that this is a building that has immense meaning to so many Jewish New Yorkers and those across the world.
And yesterday's attack also took place on the yahrzeit of Rabbi Schneerson and the leadership of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and this is just a day after the day when we remember the victims of the Holocaust, and we know that antisemitism is not simply something of the past to be learned about. It is a living, breathing thing that we have to combat every day.
Mannarino: Today, the City Council is expected to announce a task force to fight antisemitism and the question for you is: Have you found somebody to lead your own Office to Combat Antisemitism within the Mayor's Office? When can we expect to see that up and running?
Mayor Mamdani: So, we are actually in our final interviews for that position. And that is going to be a key position that delivers on our commitment to root out antisemitism across the five boroughs, and make this a city where Jewish New Yorkers are not just safe, but frankly celebrated and cherished.
Mannarino: Sometime next week?
Mayor Mamdani: We're working on the timeline but it is in the final stages.
Mannarino: Okay Mr. Mayor, and you are here today to talk about the big announcement, which is a $12 billion deficit. You said the city has not seen something like this since the Great Depression. You said you were given a poison chalice by previous administrations. So on behalf of so many New Yorkers who heard that noise and that news, what is the answer to bring So on behalf of so many New Yorkers who heard that noise and that news, what is the answer to budget down on time and on budget?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I think first, as you said, this is [a] $12 billion fiscal deficit. The last time New York saw a fiscal crisis anywhere close to this was the Great Recession. And yet, this actually eclipses that. This is a greater deficit than we saw at the time. It's going to require an all-of-the-above approach. So, we said, this will require the city's relationship with the state [to] change. What I mean by that is, today the city contributes 54.5 percent of the state's revenue [and] receives 40.5 percent in return. The second is going to require a relationship change between the city and its wealthiest residents and most profitable corporations.
I've spoken a lot with you across New York City about how I think we should raise income taxes on those who make a million dollars or more by two percent, [and] how we should raise corporate taxes on the most profitable corporations. The third thing it's also going to require is the city pursuing savings and efficiencies within its own operating budget. And so. that is something that I'm actually here to speak to you today about also, is the creation of savings officers within every single agency that will be tasked with assessing the efficacy of programs we have, the efficiencies that we currently have or are being denied, and what steps we need to take to make the kinds of changes to bring us back to a firm financial.
Mannarino: And you want that done yesterday. So, you have an executive order that you're calling all city agencies to do right now in implementing and appointing these chief savings officers.
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, and that's actually the executive order that I have with me right here. This is a directive that, within five days, every single agency head has to identify a chief savings officer. And then within 45 days, those officers have to come back to us with a full assessment of the savings that could be pursued, the efficiencies that we're currently seeing, and the programs that frankly need to be sunsetted or are not effective.
Mannarino: Okay, so go ahead, put your John Hancock on that. And that will become officially an executive order as of this moment, right?
Mayor Mamdani: Yes, this is now an executive order, the first to be signed on PIX11.
Mannarino: There we go. So let me ask you what exactly that means. The previous administration, Eric Adams, cut from city agencies. For example, libraries were cut, right? Are you expecting agencies to look at some of these things and implement cuts? And how soon?
Mayor Mamdani: I think what we're first talking about are efficiencies and savings. We're talking about the things that we could be doing better.
Mannarino: Is that cuts?
Mayor Mamdani: No, I would say, cuts are a matter of last resort, right? We do not want to be cutting the services that New Yorkers are relying on. If the state does not change its relationship to the city, if it does not raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations, then all that leaves the city with, are the most painful tools. However, we want to do everything we can to ensure that those are not the tools we have to use.
Mannarino: But cuts could be on the table, as a last resort.
Mayor Mamdani: That is what we are left with if we are not able to change these relationships. That's why we're pursuing the relationship.
Mannarino: You talked a lot about Eric Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo, but the City Council was also involved in the budget-making process. Governor Kathy Hochul had four years to kind of implement some changes to Governor Cuomo's budgets. Do you look at that as part of the reason we're in this crisis, that there was failure on all levels?
Mayor Mamdani: I see the architects of this crisis being the prior mayor and the prior governor. I think that there have been steps taken in the past few years, especially under Governor Hochul's leadership, to change some of that cost-sharing between the city and the state. It's not been an exercise in cruelty towards the city coffers that we saw for about a decade. However, there's more that needs to be done.
And what we have now, for the first time in a long time, is a directive from our own City Hall, from myself, to go to Albany and be honest and direct about what we need from Albany. That's what we're going to do.
Mannarino: What about President Trump? Does he play a role? Does he play a part in this crisis?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, I think President Trump has said himself in the Oval Office right after we had a meeting that the better New York City does, the happier he is. And what we've seen is that right now, New York City is in need of a change in its fiscal relationship with a number of the things I've listed, but also needs to be protected from some of the federal policies that are being put forward. And I've been honest about the fact that some of these proposals would devastate our city, and we're going to fight them with everything that we have.
Mannarino: In the last couple days or weeks, have you had a conversation with President Trump about what he's willing to send to New York or withhold from New York? As you go into the budget talks and negotiations now, knowing what you're going to get from the federal government is huge. So, have you spoken to the president?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I keep those conversations between the president and myself private. What I will tell you, however-
Mannarino: When's the last time you spoke to him?
Mayor Mamdani: Look, those are conversations that will always come back to New York City. And I think that that's something that New Yorkers are expecting from me. And what they also know is that in a city of eight and a half million people, the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the world, we have one in four living in poverty. We have to find fiscal policy that lifts us all up.
Mannarino: What is your contingency? As you made that announcement, an hour later, Governor Hochul came out, and she said, "Newsflash, we're not raising taxes in New York." So, you had these conversations with the governor a number of times. You're very complimentary to her, but she is adamant that they're not raising taxes. So, if you don't get that money, what is the contingency?
Mayor Mamdani: I think the first key thing is to make clear to New Yorkers why we need that money, how we got to this place. And some of [these] are the structural imbalances we've seen in our city's fiscal health over many years. It would be all too easy to try and fix this budget. Only to get here next year. That's why we're looking for solutions that will last in the longer term, recurring ones, annualized ones. And so, we're talking about these increased taxes on the wealthy.
Mannarino: She said no.
Mayor Mamdani: Look, I think politics is also an exercise in making the case and making clear what the stakes are. The tools that the city has, these are the most painful tools. We are talking about cuts. We are talking about property taxes, the things that I do not want to pursue. And yet, the scale of this fiscal crisis of $12 billion, this is not an ordinary crisis. This is not a mayor coming forward and saying, "It's going to be a tough budget. "This is the likes of which we haven't seen since the Great Recession. That requires an all of the above approach. That's what we're going to make clear.
Mannarino: So realistic[ally] [speaking], and you mentioned yesterday a number of times that you want to be really honest with New Yorkers and letting them know how we got to this point and what you're planning to do about it. But there's also a lot that you campaigned on, freezing the rent, fast and free buses. Could some of that take longer to implement, realistically talking, because of what we're seeing?
Mayor Mamdani: I think this is a fiscal crisis that has to be [at the] front of mind for all of us. Now, I'm proud of the fact that we've already been able to advance our affordability agenda in the one month I've been in office. Day eight, we secured more than a billion dollars for universal child care. Freezing the rent is not something that requires a fiscal infusion. It's a decision from the Rent Guidelines Board.
Making buses fast and free, the fast thing we're already getting started on. And what I've said is that by the time I'm finished being mayor, they're going to be free. What we have to deliver, however, in this very year, required by law, but also required just by being a good mayor, a balanced budget for this fiscal year [and for] the next fiscal year.
Mannarino: I'm up against the clock here, but yesterday you mentioned an AI chatbot that cost $500,000. It's one of the things you thought was a waste of money. Can you name something else?
Mayor Mamdani: That's exactly what this directive is about. What we want is to actually come to a number after looking at the budget. Because what we're seeing, we're talking about a budget of more than $115 billion. If I'm going to accuse the prior mayor of gross fiscal mismanagement in the budgeting process, we know that that likely extends to the expense side as well. And so we're going to look through every agency to find every example, because when we are going to ask New Yorkers to commit themselves to a new era of politics we have to commit ourselves too. That's what this is about.
Mannarino: If the governor comes up and says, "You know what, Mr. Mayor, I don't want to raise the taxes, but I do want to find money. We made all this money from Wall Street, which she said, and we found some money for you to give to you." Would that satisfy you?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that given the scale of this crisis, that's not going to be a way to cover the entirety of it. Look, I'll be direct with you. We're encouraged by the results from Wall Street, by the news of bonuses. That would be something, if the deficit was smaller, I could say maybe this could cover it. But [for] $12 billion, there's no news of bonuses or better forecasts that are going to get there. It's going to require everything.
Mannarino: Mr. Mayor, I appreciate you coming here, talking straight with New Yorkers, signing the executive order. I think it's the first that we've had here at PIX11 where legislation is signed right here on our air. Good to see you.
Mayor Mamdani: Good to see you as well.
Mannarino: Want to go do the weather?
Mayor Mamdani: Stay warm, stay inside, stay safe.
Mannarino: There you go. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.
