By Hank Russell
Nassau County Executive and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “stealing from seniors” by looking to use the city retiree fund to close the city’s budget gap.
Mamdani announced that he may be forced to raid the city’s Rainy Day Fund and the Retiree Health Benefits Trust Fund to close a $5.4 billion deficit, according to Daily Wire. “The city would also take $980 million from its Rainy Day Fund and take $229 million from the Retiree Health Benefits Trust,” he said.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the state will provide an additional $1.5 billion in operating expenses over two years to help address the city’s fiscal challenges.
This additional funding includes $510 million in recurring funding targeted towards costs that had shifted from the state to New York City under prior administrations, including about $300 million for youth programming, a restoration of $150 million in sales tax receipts that would have otherwise been retained by the state, and $60 million for public health. The remaining $500 million will be targeted to shared priorities to be determined in subsequent discussions.
LILP also reported that Mamdani threatened to raise property taxes by 9.5% if Hochul did not raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest earners.
Groups such as the New York State Association of REALTORSⓇ (NYSAR) blasted Mamdani’s proposal, which they said would “put another dagger in the city real estate market.”
“Property owners in New York City are already overtaxed and overregulated which harms residents of all income levels,” NYSAR said in a statement. “At a time when many New Yorkers are leaving for lower-tax states, raising property taxes is both counterproductive and irresponsible. Property tax increases also raise the specter of even higher rents which affects everyone.”
Blakeman also went after the mayor over his proposal to dive into the retiree fund to close the deficit.
“Let’s call Mamdani’s proposal what it is,” Blakeman said. “Raiding funds that were set aside for retirees is stealing from the men and women who worked their entire lives with the promise that their benefits would be protected. Seniors are not a line item to be manipulated when politicians can’t control their spending.”
Blakeman warned that tapping retiree funds to plug a shortfall jeopardizes the long-term security of thousands of former public employees who rely on those resources for healthcare and financial stability.
“At the same time, raising property taxes to cover a budget mess created by reckless spending is a direct hit on homeowners — many of whom are seniors living on fixed incomes,” Blakeman added. “This is a double blow to the very people who can least afford it.”
Blakeman also blasted Hochul for failing to speak out. “Hochul’s silence is unacceptable,” he said. “New Yorkers deserve to know whether she stands with retirees and homeowners—or with Mamdani’s plan that raids their future and raises their taxes.”
“Our retirees earned their benefits,” Blakeman said. “They are not a piggy bank for City Hall.”
In response, Hochul Campaign Spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said, “Bruce Blakeman’s policy prescription for New York seniors is working with Donald Trump to raise their costs and rip away their health care. [On February 18], Blakeman said he’d demand ‘certain cuts by certain dates’ to Medicaid – he’ll never stand up for New Yorkers and they’ll reject him for it in November.”