Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced plans on Thursday to send millions in state funding to local governments, arguing the move is warranted to alleviate “fiscal stress.”
Hochul said she is sending an additional $150 million in financial assistance for municipalities outside New York City, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Yonkers, Niagara Falls, Utica, Albany, and Troy. The development comes after the governor rejected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposal to hike taxes on the rich, which he billed as essential to offset a $5.4 billion budget shortfall. Hochul said earlier this month that Mamdani’s plan was not “necessary” and has expressed concern about raising property taxes in an effort to close fiscal gaps.
On Thursday, Hochul said she was funneling more money to local governments across the state because she “understands the unique challenges our local leaders are experiencing.”
“My Administration has worked closely with municipalities across the state to increase financial support from the State. We want all of New York’s municipalities to succeed, and this funding is crucial to putting all of our cities, towns, and villages on stronger financial footing and allowing them to keep their residents safe and continue providing the vital services they rely on,” she said in a statement.
Hochul is financing the new assistance by amending her 2027 budget proposal to increase funding for the state’s Temporary Municipal Assistance program. The funds will assist city leaders in boosting infrastructural support, including for public safety, essential services, parks, daily maintenance, and neighborhood revitalization.
“These resources will help us accelerate transformative neighborhood revitalization projects like One Monument Square, Frear Park, and other critical improvements across our city. This funding strengthens our ability to deliver real results for residents and continue building a safer, cleaner, more vibrant Troy,” Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello told CBS 6 Albany.
Hochul’s move to expand the state’s budget with a $100 million increase in Temporary Municipal Assistance, which triples the total support available in the state’s proposed budget, comes as Mamdani has warned he will need more financing for New York City to close its budget deficit.
Republicans have expressed concern that Mamdani’s promises to make the city’s public buses free and vastly expand fully subsidized child care will further send the city into a fiscal spiral. Hochul has resisted pushes from the new socialist mayor to raise property taxes as an attempt to close the fiscal gap, as critics say the proposal would only send the city into a deeper spiral.
“I don’t believe in raising taxes for the sake of raising taxes,” she said last month. “What is served by that? We have high taxes already predating my time. We have enough revenues to do what we want to do and what we need to do to support our state. So, beyond that, I don’t see a justification.”
