"The budget is hardly a symbol of fiscal rectitude," David adds. "It relies on billions of dollars in one-shot or short-term money to fund permanent programs, it stretches out pension payments so the next generation will pay for the retirements of present-day workers and it projects a $7 billion deficit for the 2028 fiscal year that will need to be closed just one year from now."
The pension gamble, in particular, saves $2.3 billion by
delaying payments to certain public pension funds until a later date. "The city wants to reduce those debt payments and instead pay it off over a longer period, likely well into the 2040s,"
write Ken Girardin and John Ketcham of the conservative Manhattan Institute, "meaning tomorrow's workers will be taxed extra to pay for city services delivered before some of their parents were born."
So rather than truly getting the city on "firm financial ground," Mamdani got a bailout from New York State taxpayers, while postponing other obligations for another day.
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