{"id":3455,"date":"2026-07-01T23:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3455"},"modified":"2026-07-01T23:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:38:11","slug":"mamdanis-nypd-cut-blindsided-city-council-leaving-pols-bracing-for-other-surprises-in-126b-budget-they-passed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3455","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s NYPD cut ‘blindsided’ City Council — leaving pols bracing for other surprises in $126B budget they passed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Clueless City Council members were blindsided by Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s 11th-hour move to ax nearly 600 promised new NYPD cops from the city\u2019s behemoth budget \u2013 leaving them bracing for more surprises, sources revealed.<\/p>\n

Read more 76ers acquiring Jaylen Brown from Celtics for Paul George, four draft picks in NBA blockbuster<\/a><\/p>\n

Mamdani sprung the cut on City Council Speaker Julie Menin late Monday right after they hashed out a backroom deal for the eventual $125.8 billion budget, insiders told The Post.<\/p>\n

The ambushed lawmakers had taken Mamdani at his word weeks ago that he\u2019d hire 580 more officers \u2014 even though that pledge angered the democratic socialist\u2019s lefty allies because it broke a campaign promise to freeze the NYPD\u2019s headcount at 35,000 cops.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were completely blindsided when the mayor sucker-punched us with this reversal after a deal was done,\u201d said David Carr (R-Staten Island), the City Council\u2019s minority leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen an administration publicly announces that it is hiring 580 police officers, you\u2019re supposed to be able to take them at their word. Not once from the announcement was there any sense that this needed expansion of the uniform headcount could be on the chopping block.\u201d<\/p>\n

The far-left-appeasing move also put the City Council speaker in a bind because if she objected, it would have derailed a budget deal as the city was already in danger of blowing past a Wednesday deadline, insiders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was completely deliberate,\u201d one insider said. \u201cHe did it at the last minute so the council couldn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council members ultimately approved the record-breaking budget 45-6 late Tuesday without fully knowing what it contained, owing to the last-minute, ramshackle scramble to pull it together, insiders said.<\/p>\n

The council members \u2014 as well as New Yorkers in general \u2014 still didn\u2019t fully know a day later what curveballs the adopted budget contained, as documents detailing the spending plan\u2019s specifics still hadn\u2019t been released.<\/p>\n

The wait prompted not-so-quiet grumbling from lawmakers such as Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who called it disgraceful that Mamdani left the city in the dark on the budget, despite his campaign pledge to deliver a transparent government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rug pull with the NYPD is the exact kind of treachery I have come to expect from the administration. They are all smiles up front, but behind the scenes they are working to destroy this city in whatever ways they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the mayor is deceptive enough to pull the police from the budget at the last minute, who knows what he is hoping to slip into the final budget,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The fraught budget deal nearly imploded as it came down to the wire because of Mamdani flip-flopping on a campaign promise to fund the expansion of a housing voucher program.<\/p>\n

Hizzoner and Menin ultimately struck a deal on vouchers, albeit one that left many progressives and moderates unhappy.<\/p>\n

But those gripes were arguably overshadowed by Mamdani\u2019s maneuver to walk back the plan to add more cops \u2014 especially as the stretched-thin force faces a massive summer workload, with officers working 12-hour shifts this week due to World Cup tourism and the upcoming Independence Day holiday.<\/p>\n

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The NYPD\u2019s staffing crunch goes back to 2020, when retirements started to outpace new recruits. <\/p>\n

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

The added Finest that Mamdani originally proposed within his executive budget were meant to help ease the demand for cops on the streets so they could catch up on trainings for de-escalation and mental health response, according to insiders.<\/p>\n

One source called the cut \u201cincredibly ironic,\u201d given the added officers weren\u2019t meant to boost the force but rather provide some relief to overworked street cops \u2013 a priority of Mamdani and his progressive allies.<\/p>\n

The cops were \u201cfor literally everything they care about,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Menin said she disagreed with the move, as well as Mamdani\u2019s decision to hold off adding \u201cfifth man\u201d to FDNY fire trucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be adding police officers,\u201d Menin said, noting the city has fewer cops than on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Some lawmakers and other insiders were peeved the speaker didn\u2019t put up more of a fight behind closed doors after Mamdani\u2019s surprise cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had the chance to show she was pro-cop and tell the mayor no, and she blew it,\u201d said a source familiar with the budget negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe never told her members till it was too late, and is now trying to pretend she didn\u2019t agree.\u201d<\/p>\n

An NYPD spokesperson responded to the cut by noting Commissioner Jessica Tisch\u2019s experience dealing with tight budgets and resources.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCommissioner Tisch has led three city agencies over the course of her career, and few public servants have a stronger record of finding efficiencies, modernizing operations, and delivering results for New Yorkers even under the most difficult budget conditions,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, the department is able to police effectively with the budgeted headcount we have, driving crime down month after month. That headcount and our hiring plan gives us the flexibility we need to maintain that balance over the next fiscal year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani didn\u2019t respond to questions about the cut when confronted by a Post reporter after a Fourth of July safety briefing,<\/p>\n

Read more Heartbroken dad reveals tragic last call as daughter Brittany Clark bled out from horrific alligator mauling in Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

He instead smiled and nonchalantly walked inside City Hall.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Additional reporting by Haley Brown<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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