Hochul warns NY won’t chip in more funding to city – as Mamdani gears up for annual ‘Tin Cup Day’

Gov. Kathy Hochul insisted Tuesday that the state has been more than generous with the city — ahead of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s trip to Albany to push the Big Apple’s budget asks.

The Gov. brushed off questions about whether she’d give the city additional funding just one day before Mayor Mamdani is slated to travel to the state capital and ask for it himself in a legislative hearing known as Tin Cup Day. 

“Let me say this, I already have,” Hochul said when a reporter asked if she’d bolster the city’s mammoth budget – which Mamdani has warned is facing a $12 billion deficit.

“I have stepped up without anybody having been in my ear because I know that the right thing to do is support New York City,” she said, citing $1.7 billion in funding the state has committed to cover Mamdani’s universal child care plan.

Separately asked if she’d budge on Mamdani’s free bus push, Hochul said “we’re always having conversations.” 

Hochul took questions after she appeared with Mamdani at a press conference in Brooklyn to push her “Let Them Build” agenda aimed at speeding up new construction by cutting state environmental review process times.

Mamdani is set to appear Wednesday at a legislative budget hearing informally known as “Tin Cup Day” — when mayors across New York make their hometown pitches to state lawmakers.

Hizzoner, who has committed to submitting a balanced preliminary budget plan by the Feb. 17 deadline, is expected to continue to push for tax hikes on the rich and for state funding increases for his lofty affordability agenda.

But sources have suggested Hochul’s bean counters are quietly fuming over the mayor’s public pleas, arguing that the $12 billion budget gap is an overestimate by the city. For instance Mamdani’s budget only projects around $513 million in child care funding from the state, the sources claimed.

Hochul has also been firm on not raising taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents despite Mamdani’s best efforts.

But one expert said she may still concede to the new mayor, who endorsed her for re-election last week, on certain projects. 

“The budget is a negotiating process and the state has its own fiscal challenges down the road,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission.

“But you know, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there is some meeting of the minds and she helps the city with some money for additional programs or you know, help the fiscal situation,” he said.

The mayor’s office didn’t return a request for comment.

— Additional reporting by Vaughn Golden