Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pleading with the City Council to sign off on a budget extension — as the freshman city leader scrambles to try to milk Albany for more money with his wish list of new taxes DOA, The Post has learned.
Sources said Speaker Julie Menin — who has been a check on the mayor’s bloated budget spending — agreed to the request, with the caveat of the socialist mayor agreeing to find savings to fill the nearly $6 billion gap.
Hizzoner requested the delay from the council with hopes that Gov. Kathy Hochul and other state lawmakers will help reduce the financial strain on the Big Apple by pausing mandates that set maximum class sizes and redirecting some state funds, according to sources briefed on the talks.
Menin has found common ground with Mamdani on those issues, quietly pushing Albany behind closed doors to redirect more money to the city and easing the financial burden of the state requirements.
Mamdani and Menin also found common ground on a pass-through entity tax credit that could raise $1 billion annually, and both will push Albany to approve, sources said.
The Council speaker and Hochul have been in near lockstep during the budget dance, demanding that City Hall find savings in the massive $127 billion budget and shooting down calls for increasing income and corporate taxes.
Insiders said the governor’s pitch for a pied-à-terre tax, an added levy on high-end second homes expected to bring in $300 to $500 million annually, was offered as an olive branch so he could spin it as a victory in his “Tax the Rich” agenda.
She also already gave Mamdani an early windfall with funding to the tune of $1.5 billion to create a pilot program for 2K and early childcare services.
The City Council, which released its own budget last month with no taxes, will still have to vote to allow Mamdani to miss his May 1 deadline.
That vote is slated for Thursday.
Up north, Albany lawmakers approved another extender on Monday for the state budget, which was 27 days late.
When Mamdani rolled out his initial budget, the socialist mayor tried to force Hochul’s hand to increase taxes on the state’s highest earners by threatening New Yorkers with a nearly 10% property tax bump to fill the $5.4 billion gap if she didn’t come through.
But the gov has repeatedly shut down that idea.
The political gambit is identical to the 2014 negotiations — the last time the executive budget was late — when then-Mayor Bill de Blasio made a failed attempt to “Tax the Rich” while Andrew Cuomo was governor.
De Blasio also threatened property owners with a tax increase during those budget negotiations, but ended up finding a way to balance his executive budget without the hike or additional revenue from the state.
At the time, Mamdani’s first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan, was Blaz’s budget director.
City Hall has also floated drawing down the Big Apple’s savings account, pulling from other funds and even delaying pension payments.
The plan to burn through its savings triggered the four big credit agencies to sound the alarm with investors, with three warning it would downgrade the city’s bond rating.
A downgrade would affect the city’s borrowing power and ability to refinance outstanding loans, costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
A source with knowledge said there is expected to be an announcement by Mamdani on Tuesday.
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