Mr. Richards goes to Albany: BP calls on state leaders to help with city budget woes
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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards went to Albany last week to advocate for Queens amid city budget woes. Photo via Office of Borough President Donovan Richards
By Ryan Schwach
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards wants the state to raise taxes on millionaires and corporations in order to meet the city’s budget deficit and stave off what he says would be catastrophic consequences for the borough caused by the property tax increase threatened by the mayor.
Richards made his thoughts clear to state leaders when he trekked up to Albany on Tuesday for what he described as a Queens-centric “Tin Cup Day.”
He said the impetus for the visit was to push back against property tax increases, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani floated as a “last resort” fix for the city’s budget gap. To prevent the mayor from having to fall back on the plan, Richards demanded lawmakers give more state aid to the city and to Queens.
“We want to make sure Queens is on strong footing,” he told the Eagle the day after his trip north. “We can continue to invest in our parks and our schools in a meaningful way, and our cultural institutions and our hospitals in particular so that we don't lose footing over the next four years.”
Additionally, Richards said he was “fine with” the millionaires’ tax pitched by Mamdani and his progressive allies, as well as tax increases on the state’s wealthiest corporations. Unlike the proposal’s critics, the BP said he wasn’t worried a tax bump would force wealthy New Yorkers or corporations to flee the Empire State.
“The effective rate is not going to squeeze them out of New York City,” Richards said. “Where are you going? To Kansas?”
In January, Mamdani said the only answers to fill the city’s budget deficit without cutting services were to institute taxes on the state’s wealthiest people and corporations, and for the state to overhaul how much it gives the city in return for the substantial revenue the city sends up the Hudson River.
He said that if the state does not come through, he would have no choice but to raise property taxes by nine percent, an option quickly condemned by Queens officials, including Richards.
“The threat of property taxes certainly has created anxiety amongst Queens communities,” he said.
But while Richards is in defiant opposition to a property tax increase, he felt the only way to prevent it was to pitch an alternative to lawmakers.
“I felt it was incumbent upon us, especially being that we were the first voice to really come out and say no to the property tax increase, to also come up with a solution,” he said.
Richards spoke to leaders in the state legislature, including Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and he said he advocated for the needs of the borough amid budget negotiations.
Richards sits in a unique position. He is both a partner to Mamdani, but also a close ally to Governor Kathy Hochul, who has been hesitant to meet Mamdani on his calls for tax increases or additional state funding.
“I think that the governor is committed,” he said. “And I think the leadership…Carl Heastie…and Senator Cousins, they understand the importance of helping New York City grow and continue to evolve.”
He said he also spoke with members of Queens’ state delegation about inflation and utility costs.
“I felt relatively good coming back that Albany is taking this extremely seriously,” he said.
Richards said he is “fine with” Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for a millionaires’ tax that would stave off the consequences Queens would face from a property tax increase. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
The second-term BP also doesn’t want Queens to be left out of the state’s budget math, especially as the borough continues to grow and bring more revenue to the city and state.
“We are already a big contributor to the city's coffers and the state's coffers, but now you're going to have two casinos coming online and a soccer stadium,” he said. “All roads lead through Queens – [John F. Kennedy International Airport] LaGuardia [Airport], the biggest housing booms are happening in Queens right now.”
“Queens definitely needs to see a fair share,” he said.
For years, Queens has seen inequities in city and state funding. The borough currently receives the least city funding per capita when compared to Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx and Manhattan.
Under the current budget framework, the Queens borough president would receive $2.43 per capita in expense funding, or nine cents less than the Brooklyn BP’s office and more than $7 less than the Staten Island BP’s office.
Queens’ community boards would also be given $1.75 per capita, two cents fewer than Staten Island, which ranks fourth in per capita funding.
“I believe Staten Island kids deserve good resources, I'm not taking away from them, but why should they get $9 per student, as opposed to a kid in Southeast Queens, who's getting not even $2?” he said.
Richards has long stressed the inequity as a concern, and said this week it remains a continuing conversation, but one that needs action.
“You can't fix it with a philosophical conversation,” he said. “We presented this to our state partners [Tuesday] as well, because you see a boroughwide push…there has to be political will to get it done.”
Borough funding is set by a formula spelled out in the city’s charter. While Queens has the second-largest population in the city, it’s also the largest borough by land mass, making it less densely populated than the other four boroughs and skewing the funding formula.
Richards said he’ll have conversations with the city’s first Queens mayor about addressing the formula issue.
“He may be able to do something about it,” he said. “He may be the one to do something. I think he's a Queens mayor, this is an opportunity of a lifetime to fix the formula for our communities.”
