New York City in brief

Some 450,000 New Yorkers stand to lose Essential Plan coverage in July, as federal funding cuts—courtesy of Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—combine with local policy inertia. Governor Kathy Hochul’s proposals offer little solace, while hospitals fret over chronic understaffing and resource gaps. Calls to tax the state’s affluent abound, but for now, the prognosis for New York’s public healthcare remains anything but robust.

Donald Trump’s promise to tame grocery and petrol prices now looks optimistic at best: since he retook office, inflation has climbed to 3.8%, petrol averages $4.50 nationwide (and $6.16 in California), while tariffs and slashed health subsidies heap extra costs on American, especially Latino, households. With only a third of voters approving his handiwork and forecasts looking gloomy, we suspect those “endless wins” may have got mislaid in transit.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new $124.5 billion budget finds $1.2 billion in savings by trimming education and housing outlays, quietly shelving promises to boost classroom support and rental aid—proving, perhaps, that balancing New York City's $5.4 billion gap is easier said than done. With $8 billion in new state aid and delayed pension payments clutching the fiscal lifeline, we’re left wondering if stable footing is ever more than a provisional luxury.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani shelved plans to hike New York City property taxes after Governor Kathy Hochul promised new aid to help fill a $12 billion hole in the city’s $124.5 billion budget. With $4 billion more in state support—some direct, some pending legislative approval—the immediate gap is now, in bureaucratic parlance, “entirely closed,” though rich pied-à-terres and the business tax credit were not so lucky.

With more largesse from Albany and a freshly inked tax on high-end pied-à-terres, Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani are crowing about finally plugging New York City’s $125 billion budget gap. Relief from the state doesn’t hurt, nor does squeezing the well-heeled; but true to form, Gotham manages to balance its books just as a new shortfall begins to form in the wings.