Mark Levine joined Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday to announce a proposed charter amendment that would rewrite the rules for New York City’s rainy day fund. The plan would set a target size, require formula-based deposits and limit withdrawals, before it can take effect.
Levine and Mamdani want the Reserve Stabilization Fund to grow to 10% of city tax revenue, or $8.44 billion based on the cited revenue figure. The fund now stands at $2 billion, about 2% of the roughly $84.4 billion in city tax revenue collected.
Reserve Stabilization Fund rules
The proposal would do more than raise a target. It would build a deposit formula into the fund’s structure and set conditions for taking money out, a change meant to keep the reserve from being used for unnecessary purposes. For readers watching the budget, that means the city would be writing the guardrails into the system instead of leaving them to the discretion of future budgets.
That matters now because City Hall is nearing completion of a budget to close a revised $5.7 billion deficit. At the start of 2026, the deficit was $12 billion, so the city has already narrowed the gap before this new reserve plan is set to move forward.
Charter Commission approval
The amendment cannot become law on its own. The Charter Commission on Governmental Efficiency must approve it first, and voters would then have to approve it through a ballot referendum.
That two-step process means the proposal is only the opening move. If it advances, the question for New York City residents is whether they want a larger reserve locked into law before future budgets are built around it.
