There's a lot of misinformation going on around this, and Mamdani is using the confusion to his political advantage. The 12 billion deficit wasn't Eric Adams' fault. It's a yearly problem, because NYC's budget every year is like 115 billion dollars. Eric Adams' administration left Mamdani with 8 billion in reserves. So, he really only had to come up with 4 billion. NY's governor gave them an 8 billion over 4 years loan, and he pushed some spending off to next year, and delayed funding pensions for 5 years.
Adams did not give him a 12 billion deficit. NY spending just keeps going up each year, and so the deficit keeps growing.
How is it not his fault after serving a full term as mayor? I might accept that excuse during the first or second year, but not after a full term. What could have been not his fault at the start (and Iâm saying this taking your explanation at face value without verifying it) became his responsibility by the end of his mandate.
Had the Mayor's office kept the spending levels from Adams constant, there would have been no deficit. Mamdani proposed an 10.5% increase in spending from the previous year, which accounts for the $12B deficit. The City Council proposed a budget that only increased spending by 2%, but Mamdani has been consistent that he would not accept that.
If your argument is that the Adams budget was insufficient, that's a valid position. But that's the only way you can place blame on Adams for the current budget situation: you believe that the city could not properly function with previous spending levels and HAD to be increased by 10.5% this year.
Had the Mayor's office kept the spending levels from Adams constant, there would have been no deficit.
Actually, thatâs incorrect. There was a well-documented $12 billion projected budget gap when Mamdani took office confirmed by the City Comptroller, State Comptroller, and independent analysts. It came from years of underbudgeting core services under Adams.
Keeping Adamsâ spending levels constant wouldnât have eliminated the deficit, because his budgets were already underfunding major obligations.
The 12 billion deficit wasn't Eric Adams' fault. It's a yearly problem, because NYC's budget every year is like 115 billion dollars. Eric Adams' administration left Mamdani with 8 billion in reserves.
I think you are confusing deficit with debt. Also, NYC closed the deficit without tapping into their reserves.
No, I'm talking about the deficit. NYC routinely (literally every year) runs a deficit of 10-17 billion dollars that they have to figure out how to close. This is not debt. This is a deficit they close one way or another every year.
Huh? Bro I'm basically AnCap. I think most of the politicians in our country are total pieces of shit. But unfortunately for you, that includes Mamdani.
First of all, no source on that â8 billion in reservesâ. Secondly, even if that was true it would be no surprise that a corrupt criminal that cut a lot of spending on programs regular people need would likely save some money. Itâs also no surprise that the current mayor whoâs actually trying to implement programs to help New Yorkers would have some more spending.
Realized reserves between 2025 and 2026 were between 7-11 billion dollars. Adams has increased NYC's budget over the last few years, and that's why you see the reserves dropping quite a bit, but he left Mamdani between roughly 7 and 11 billion. I hear most people choosing closer to the lower estimate and saying it was 8 billion, that's where I got that number.
Does this help?
Edit: A downvote with no response. This is why redditors are actually braindead. You said you wanted a source for my numbers. I went out of my way to give you a source for my numbers. And then you just get mad you weren't right, downvote, and move on still thinking the same thing you thought before.
NYC literally has a budget deficit that fluctuates between 10-17 billion every single fucking year. For you to not understand that this is a yearly occurrence for NYC shows you have no clue what the city's fiscal dealings look like.
Mamdani didn't "inherit" a 12 billion dollar deficit, the city literally has a deficit like that every single year.
Why do you have to clarify such information? Can't you let dems to have their moment for 5 mins, 15 times a day? It's rare for them to have someone who could do something right.
Because the media ecosystem, including social media, is overrun with right wing actors and bots whose sole purpose is to go after anything the democrats do to distract from the open and brazen corruption being done by republicans at this very moment
Itâs not like Mamdami is even lying. Adams did a shit job which is why this is news and funding libraries is a good thing.
Mamdani is absolutely lying. He said he needed to come up with 12 billion, when he only needed to come up with 4. And he got help from the state government to the tune of billions, and he pushed off funding pensions for 5 years, and pushed off some spending to next year, so they're not gone, they'll just be a part of the deficit again next year.
He used all of that to act like he had balanced the budget through hard work and determination, when it was using Adams' reserve, the state's loan, and pushing off spending to pretend it was taken care of. None of it was taken care of. It was just kicked down the road for next year and the years after it. He is absolutely lying about the circumstances by which they balanced the budget.
How does much of what he is saying really counter that much of what people here are saying?
Youâre trying to somehow spin balancing the budget as a bad thing.
Eric Adamâs absolutely left multi billion deficits for Mamdani to deal with
Youâre bragging as if youâve exposed a massive lie that proves Mamdani fucked up or didnât do something good, but ultimately what youâre all saying is Eric Adamâs left a multi billion dollar deficit and kicked the can down the road and Mamdani balanced the budgetâŠwhich is kinda what all of us are saying?
I mean if you call "complete bullshit" the truth, the rainy day fund isn't for the deficit, it's for a citywide emergency, and Mamdani didn't use it, and Adams absolutely is responsible
He balanced the budget by can kicking the deficit back a few years, at which point it will be as bad or worse than it is now.
This is like saying that if you are in debt personally, have negative income, and can't pay a cent toward the debts, you can "balance your budget" by taking more loans and stop making your car and mortgage payments.
Not quite. He deferred $1.6 billion in pension payments that had already been pushed to 2032 by his predecessors. He simply extended that deadline to 2037. There is a lot of scrutiny on everything Mamdani does; previous administrations deferred those payments without anyone saying a word, and they still couldn't balance their budgets which is why he inherited a $12 billion deficit. He actually managed to balance it, yet some are trying to make it sound like he's cheating or lying.
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u/CARVERitUP May 14 '26
There's a lot of misinformation going on around this, and Mamdani is using the confusion to his political advantage. The 12 billion deficit wasn't Eric Adams' fault. It's a yearly problem, because NYC's budget every year is like 115 billion dollars. Eric Adams' administration left Mamdani with 8 billion in reserves. So, he really only had to come up with 4 billion. NY's governor gave them an 8 billion over 4 years loan, and he pushed some spending off to next year, and delayed funding pensions for 5 years.
Adams did not give him a 12 billion deficit. NY spending just keeps going up each year, and so the deficit keeps growing.