Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharpened the stakes of New York City’s budget negotiations Tuesday, proposing a 9.5% property tax rate increase while warning it could be unavoidable unless Albany agrees to raise taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and most profitable corporations — even as City Council leaders said property tax hikes should not be on the table.
Releasing his $127 billion Fiscal Year 2027 Preliminary Budget on Feb. 17, Mamdani framed the city’s $5.4 billion two-year budget gap as a choice between securing new state-authorized taxes on millionaires and corporations or relying on the city’s limited tools — including higher property taxes and reserve drawdowns — to legally balance the books.
