New York City Comptroller Mark Levine started his tenure with a bang.
Levine held a press conference, in just his second week on the job, announcing that the city was facing a $12 billion budget gap.
As city leaders stare down the budget gap, a hostile Trump administration, and a housing crisis, Levine is staking out his positions to signal what kind of comptroller he will be
Watchdogs like the Citizens Budget Commission had been warning about the city's routine out-year budget gaps for years, consistently caused by under-budgeting for services such as police overtime, Department of Education due process cases, and housing program CityFHEPS.
Levine said he
Levine's press conference drew the attention of one very important figure: newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who
Mamdani and Levine both pinned the blame for the gaps on the prior mayor, Eric Adams. Mamdani said he wanted to address the under-budgeting, and used the opportunity to press Albany for tax hikes.
Levine succeeds Brad Lander, who ran for mayor instead of seeking a second term, eventually finishing behind, and endorsing, Mamdani in the first round of the Democratic primary.
Drawing attention to a longstanding fiscal problem, and winning the support of the mayor, is a pretty strong start to a comptroller's first term.
Since Levine's press conference, tax collections have proven stronger than suspected. Levine and other observers expect the FY2026 gap to be mostly resolved by the higher collections, but the structural gap remains, he said.
Levine is optimistic about the budget, and said he wants to impress that optimism upon bond investors.
"I do think this is a solvable challenge," Levine said. "We do have levers here, and some of them are tough, and some of them are politically tough, but we can solve this."
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who advocates higher taxes on rich people, has said that
"Everything has to be on the table," Levine said, but "before you ask for tax increases to cover a budget gap, you've got to score some savings and efficiencies on the home front."
Scoring savings should be doable, said Ana Champeny, Citizens Budget Commission vice president for research.
"Under the last two administrations, there really hasn't been very consistent, diligent performance management and efforts to increase efficiency," Champeny said. "So there are opportunities, small and large throughout all of the agencies,"
Levine said savings could come from CityFHEPS, a rental assistance program to help individuals and families find and keep housing. The program is growing 4% each month, which he said is not sustainable.
Levine and Champeny both pointed to the Department of Education, the agency with the largest budget, noting that the funding structure does not account for enrollment declines since 2019. Champeny added that the city should urge Albany for an exemption to the class size mandate. Mamdani also suggested procurement reform in the DoE while campaigning.
Levine, like Mamdani, wants more money from the state.
"I definitely think we need to get our share from Albany, and I don't think we currently are," he said. "And you can look at a variety of programs and see that, even on individual programs, we get a lower reimbursement rate than other parts of the state. And so equalizing that would help close the gap."
"I don't know if parity is the way that you measure this," Champeny said , but she agreed that the state could chip in to help close the gap.
"The state definitely has a role to play in helping the city address its fiscal challenges, possibly with a temporary or support for a transition to a more sustainable budget," Champeny said. "There's merit to the question about whether or not the city and the state relationship is fair to the city."
Levine's time as comptroller may be defined in relation to Mamdani's mayoralty. The two offices collaborate to issue the city's bonds, but the comptroller's watchdog function sets up the possibility for an adversarial relationship — Levine's predecessor, Lander, relentlessly criticized Adams and eventually ran against him for mayor.
Levine and Mamdani have publicly disagreed on whether to invest
Levine had only neutral or positive things to say about his relationship with the mayor so far.
Levine praised Mamdani's response to the budget gap, but said that will not prevent his scrutiny when Mamdani releases his first budget this month.
"I think it's to the mayor's enormous credit that he has [acknowledged the budget gap] and now it's his problem to solve — it's our problem, collectively," Levine said. "But he isn't attempting any kind of denial on this, which is really refreshing."
"I've talked a little bit about bonds and a lot about economic and fiscal concerns, more broadly with him. And of course, our teams are in very, very close contact," Levine said. "In the case of bonds, I mean, you need the mayor and the comptroller working hand in hand here. This is an area where we're co-issuers, but there are institutional limitations here, [such as the constitutional] debt limit."
The other defining figure in Levine's tenure will be President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened New York City and state's federal funding. Lander extensively cataloged the
For the most part, Levine said, that means pointing out the Trump administration's attempts to pull funding, so that the state can challenge them in court. So far, this strategy has been successful.
The two areas of funds that keep Levine up at night, he said, are education and social services. The federal government has threatened to cut grants based on the DoE's policies for transgender students and alleged fraud in social services spending, which the Trump administration is using as a cudgel to go after
Champeny said this is one of the crucial functions of a comptroller.
"It's not very easy to track federal dollars coming into the city and the state," Champeny said. "That's one of the things that the comptroller's office, both the city and the state, have done in the past is provide information and access to easily understandable information for the public."
Levine has also raised concerns about the state of the city's economy. It's very strong right now, he said, but continued growth is crucial. And there's been a virtual hiring freeze, Levine and Champeny said, in all sectors except low-paying healthcare and social services jobs.
"This has to be a place where we invest, where business wants to invest, where businesses want to locate and expand and hire, because when we do that, it will help us solve our fiscal problems," Levine said. "I see investing in our economy and ensuring that we're growing as a wonderful way to generate the resources we can use to support those on the margins."
Levine, previously the Manhattan borough president and before that a member of the New York City Council, said his chief priorities as comptroller will be the basic parts: responsible management of the city's pensions, budget and debt. He also plans to make affordable housing a "centerpiece" of his time as office, a commitment he says dates back to his prior elected roles.
The pffice's duties are very technical, Champeny said, so it's normal to see little change from one comptroller to the next. There will certainly be continuity between Lander and Levine. Many of
Champeny said that, so far, Levine is doing a good job in the role.
"Drawing attention very early on and strongly on the city's fiscal challenges is important, and I think that shows a real commitment to ensuring that the office works to its full potential," Champeny said, "to ensure that New Yorkers are aware of and educated about the fiscal condition and the challenges and what should be done."
