By Hank Russell
Nassau County Executive and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman accused Governor Kathy Hochul of “robbery” after she announced that she would provide New York City with an additional $4 billion to close the budget gap.
According to a press release from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office, this brings the total amount of state aid over the past two years to $8 billion. The Mamdani administration said the money will be used to close a $12 billion budget deficit that they claim was left by the previous administration under Eric Adams.
“From day one, I have been committed to ensuring New York City succeeds, because a strong and stable City means an even stronger New York State,” Hochul said. “Today, we are fulfilling the promise to make free universal child care a reality, making significant investments in education, public safety, and infrastructure while providing the city the resources they need to continue to fund critical services for New Yorkers. This is what a results-driven, responsible partnership looks like and I’m proud to work with Mayor Mamdani to deliver for working New Yorkers.”
“For years, the relationship between City Hall and Albany has been defined by dysfunction and infighting,” Mamdani said. “Governor Hochul and I, however, share a belief that government works best when we work together on behalf of the people we serve. We have partnered through every step of this process to protect the fiscal health of our city. I am thankful for her collaboration and deep commitment to securing a future for our city that working people can afford.”
That amount of money the city has received in 2025 and 2026 far exceeds what Long Island received during the same time period. Based on research conducted by Long Island Life & Politics, the 2025 and 2026 state budgets only allocated approximately $1.4 billion for the region.
Blakeman blasted the governor for the bailout. “Kathy Hochul just committed the largest daylight robbery in New York history, looting $4 billion from your family’s grocery and rent budget to bankroll Zohran Mamdani’s socialist experiment,” he said. “She’s taking money from police and schools around the state to fund a radical agenda, but when I’m Governor, the stealing stops. I’ll cut your taxes, slash your utility bills in half, and put your hard-earned money back where it belongs—in your pocket, not Mamdani’s.”
On Long Island News Radio’s “The Jay Oliver Show,” Hochul defended her decision to bail out the city. She said the money would for pension deferrals that would “just move it out a few extra years in the future”, as well as for schools “like I’ve done on Long Island and across the state” and MTA-related projects that the state had covered before but had been removed.
“People should be glad that the finances of New York City are going to be stable,” she said. “We know thousands of Long Islanders work in New York City. They do not want the city to be on unsound fiscal footing. So my job was to make sure all of that was stabilized, not to allow them to spend more, but to just manage the crisis that unfolded over the last few months, and I did that responsibly without additional cost to New York taxpayers.”
A Hochul campaign spokesperson said, “Bruce Blakeman’s record is clear: His own constituents are facing sky-high property taxes right now because Blakeman himself jacked them up twice, and whether it’s tax hikes on families or coming out against tariff refunds to put money back in their pockets, New Yorkers pay more with Blakeman.”