I can't help but wonder how many municipal workers in New York City voted for Zohran Mamdani. I'm willing to bet it was a significant portion, however.
And for all Mamdani's bluster about taxing the rich, it sure seems like he's about to stick it to some average city workers by delaying city contributions to municipal pensions. This includes police, firefighters, and teachers.
Deferring pension contributions is the Pandora's box of municipal finance, where a seemingly harmless action unleashes a legacy of complications. Once that seal is broken, NYC will start the descent into the same liability-fueled spiral that has hollowed out so many other cities. pic.twitter.com/YmHpF8TJyz
— John Arnold (@johnarnold) April 24, 2026
As Arnold said, this is a Pandora's box that does not end well. In simple terms, most public pensions operate on an actuarial basis, and cities must make the annual required contribution so that investment returns can pay out retiree benefits.
Delaying those contributions means the debt grows while interest compounds and investment growth is missed.
Right now, New York's five pension funds have about $320 billion in them and it appears that Mamdani might not just be eyeing withholding those contributions, but raiding the funds as well.
In other places where such withholdings have happened, economic disaster has followed. Chicago's funding ratio dropped from about 52 percent in 2009 to less than 25 percent in 2015. That led to credit downgrades, huge property tax hikes, and budget woes that continue to this day.
In Detroit, chronic underfunding of pensions and skimming from pension funds led to the city's 2013 bankruptcy. The courts ended up approving massive pension cuts. The same thing happened in several Rhode Island cities, where Central Falls filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and retirees saw a 55 percent cut of their pensions. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Stockton, and other blue cities had similar experiences.
It's not like New York wasn't warned. Several people, myself included, were sounding the alarm about the openly socialist Mamdani all throughout the campaign.
Some will argue that voters in NYC didn't have many palatable choices; I agree. Andrew Cuomo was a terrible governor who killed thousands with his COVID policies and then covered it up without consequence; he was also accused of multiple incidents of sexual harassment which is what finally got him out of office in the first place.
Eric Adams wasn't New York's worst mayor, but he wasn't the best. He managed the decline of NYC and was plagued by some scandals. He also waited far too long to drop out of the race, spreading the vote and helping boost Mamdani to victory.
And Curtis Sliwa, love him though I do, was not the man for the moment. He's done tremendous work for NYC and the people owe him a debt of gratitude, but that doesn't always translate into mayoral material or electoral success.
But I would have voted for any of them over Mamdani, and the outcomes would have been far superior to what New York has coming down the pike.
Nine days ago, Mamdani celebrated tax day by doxing a rich New Yorker and telling the residents of his city they were "taxing the rich."
Now Mamdani is about to screw over a generation of city workers, many of whom voted for him. Whoops.
