By Josephine Stratman
New York Daily News
(TNS)
A bevy of New York City nonprofit organizations are urging state lawmakers to keep pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to grant Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s asks for tax hikes on the city’s wealthiest residents and most profitable corporations.
Their push comes as Albany has blown through the deadline for the state budget and as Mamdani has sought more money from the state as he faces the challenge of balancing the city’s books amidst a fiscal crisis.
“We write in support of higher taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations, and to urge you to stand strong in budget negotiations to protect New Yorkers who struggle the most, and the nonprofit sector that supports them,” the 38 organizations, including the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, Make the Road NY and Housing Works, wrote in a letter to State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Monday.
The state budget is now two weeks late and is widely expected to come closer to the end of April.
Both chambers included the tax hikes in their One-House budget proposals—the starting point for their formal negotiations with the governor on the state budget. But Hochul has remained adverse to a tax hike on the wealthy.
New York City is currently facing a $5.4 billion budget gap, per City Hall estimates. Mamdani has put pressure on Hochul to help balance the books, warning that if she doesn’t step in, the city would be forced to take more drastic actions like an unpopular property tax hike or cuts to vital services.
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The organizations said they’re fearful this state of play—in addition to comments in February from the state’s budget director on a need for limiting spending on social services—might result in cuts to funding for nonprofits.
“We are concerned about the future of our social safety net during this fiscal crisis,” the letter reads. “In the face of City and State budget challenges, non-profit service providers are all too often the first on the chopping block.”
Mamdani said Friday he’s been “encouraged” by the conversations around the state budget and that he wants to see it settled before he submits his next budget proposal.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll see those conversations come to a place of a finalized agreement in the next few weeks before we head into our executive budget,” Mamdani said.
Photo credit: Joshua Williams/Unsplash
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©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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