New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is seeking millions of dollars to fund an array of liberal priorities despite the city’s massive budget shortfall — and after canceling an overhaul of the New York Police Department that would have grown its ranks significantly.
Mamdani’s budget proposal for the 2027 fiscal year, which his office released on Tuesday, requests a total of $5.6 million in funding for New York City’s Office of Racial Equity, a further $5.5 million for the city’s commissions on racial and gender equity, more than $1 billion for free child care programming, and over $25 million for a municipal office specializing in climate change mitigation and “environmental justice.” As the mayor seeks millions for these programs, some of which he proposed modestly cutting, the city faces a predicted budgetary shortfall of roughly $10 billion.
Potentially offsetting the costs of these progressive agenda items is Mamdani’s cancellation of a plan that would have seen 5,000 new officers added to the force over the course of the next several years. The expansion was slated to cost $17.8 million in 2026 and a total of $315.8 million over the course of the program’s lifetime. The NYPD’s overall funding, which comes from a combination of state, federal, municipal, and self-generated revenues, would be higher during fiscal 2027 than it is in fiscal 2026 if Mamdani’s budget were enacted.
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The reversal of former Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) approach to public safety follows a sharp reduction in crime during his tenure in Gracie Mansion.
Also on the chopping block are funds to the city’s cultural institutions. Pillars of New York such as the American Natural History Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New York Botanical Garden would collectively lose millions in funding under Mamdani’s budget.
To pay for his budget, which is larger than what the city spent last year despite the fiscal crisis, Mamdani proposed a 9.5% property tax hike if the state legislature fails to pass a wealth tax.
‘Racial equity’
The purpose of New York’s multi-million dollar Commission on Racial Equity, according to the city’s proposal, is to “enable community members with equity expertise or lived experience relevant to the goal of equity to propose priorities for racial equity in city decision-making and policy and assess performance towards those priorities.”
As part of its duty to provide racial equity oversight in New York, the Commission on Racial Equity sued the Adams administration in August 2025 in an attempt to force the city to release a “citywide racial equity plan.” Now, with Mamdani in office, the commission is demanding that racial equity “serve as the foundation for all budgetary decisions” in the city.
The Commission on Racial Equity’s website invites residents of the city to report municipal employees or policies if they are believed to be widening racial disparities in the city.
Mamdani proposed maintaining the same level of funding for staff for the city’s racial equity office while reducing some of its non-staff funding, per his budget.
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‘Gender equity’
Proposed funding for the Commission on Gender Equity, which advises the mayor on “gender equity” issues, remains unchanged at $835,740 in appropriations.
The advisory body, comprised of seven full-time budgeted positions, promotes “gender-based equality” in New York City as well as analyzes federal, state, and local legislation in the interest of so-called gender equity.
Housed within the mayoral Office of Equity & Racial Justice, the commission’s operational focuses center on recognizing the “diversity of gender.” Its prioritized populations include transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary-identifying individuals.
Free child care
Mamdani, who campaigned on ensuring free, all-day childcare citywide, proposed significant investments in the city’s “Universal Pre-K” and early childhood education programs.
If adopted, the budget would raise the wages of teachers and support staff by $186.5 million, breaking the $1 billion appropriations mark for pre-K salary spending. Checks to early childhood educators teaching toddlers and nursing infants would also increase by more than half a million dollars.
The preliminary budget additionally sets aside $385.1 million in funds for pre-kindergarten programming costs related to provider contracts, supplies, and teaching material. Another $102.7 million is earmarked for such expenses tied to daycare services up to the age of four.
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‘Environmental justice’
Mamdani is seeking to build out the city’s Climate Office, designating $6.6 million for staffing the department and an additional $19.7 million for materials “required to support operations associated with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, climate resiliency, [and] environmental justice,” among other operational aims.
Climate activism is a key part of the Democratic Socialists of America’s national platform. Mamdani, a high-profile DSA member, suggested several climate-oriented policies on the 2025 campaign trail, such as retrofitting 500 public schools with solar power panels and energy-efficient HVAC systems.
