Zos spending plan bids farewell to public safety while opening the door to a looming cash shortfall

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin managed Tuesday to agree on a budget for the year that starts July 1 with just hours to go.New Yorkers may wish they hadn’t bothered.For starters, the ginormous $126 billion plan is, per city Comptroller Mark Levine, essentially unsound — as it relies on one-shots, fiscal gimmicks, phony savings and, basically, chewing gum to hold it together.Mamdani & Co.

managed to paper over the shortfall between spending and revenue this year — but they left monster gaps down the road.Another huge worry: The plan sacrifices public safety by holding down the NYPD headcount, scrapping planned police academy classes that would’ve added another 580 cops, while upping outlays for more giveaways.The Democratic Socialist mayor just had to cave to his fellow Defund-the-Police cronies who demanded not one cop more.“I am proud to have worked closely with Mayor Mamdani and public safety advocates to ensure there was no increase in the NYPD’s headcount in this budget,” Queens lefty Tiffany Caban gleefully posted on X.Meanwhile, retirement and other attrition will lower the headcount over the next few months.Feel safer yet?At the same time, the council insisted on injecting another $225 million into the city’s housing-voucher program, which is meant to help people in shelters move into permanent housing, even though its costs have mushroomed from $25 million in fiscal year 2019 to almost $2 billion last year.In 2023, the program became a fiscal flashpoint when the council unwisely passed legislation expanding eligibility to people with higher incomes and to those facing eviction.Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.

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As the Citizens Budget Commission has warned, the program may cost less than shelter stays in the short-run, but it be...