New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to hire at least 79 new staffers at a total cost of $10 million, according to a Post review of administration job listings this month. He is simultaneously pushing for higher taxes on the city's wealthiest residents and major corporations, or, failing that, a 9.5% across-the-board property tax hike to close what he claims is a $5.4 billion budget gap.
The hiring binge would swell City Hall's payroll by 20% compared to that of his predecessor, Eric Adams. Mayoral monthly paychecks have already ballooned by nearly 12% for March compared to the same time last year. And Mamdani hasn't even finished staffing up.
City Hall did not respond to a Post request for comment.
A significant chunk of the new positions would feed Mamdani's newly minted offices for Economic Justice and Mass Engagement, the New York Post reported. The Office of Economic Justice is headed by Julie Su, a controversial Biden-era official who sources said dragged her feet for months, finally starting on March 1 despite being announced to the post in January. The office includes an economic "enforcer" post with a salary of up to $200,000.
The Office of Mass Engagement accounts for more than a dozen of the listed positions, costing taxpayers roughly $2 million. One Democratic operative who reviewed the listings did not mince words:
"Useless woke jobs."
Another Dem insider called the postings evidence of a pattern, and an ex-City Hall staffer under the Bloomberg administration questioned the value of roles built on what the Post described as murky, word-salad job descriptions. The listings are loosely defined, heavy on jargon, and light on any measurable deliverable a taxpayer might recognize.
Then there's the senior adviser for legislative advocacy, a $155,000 salaried position, and a senior project manager for child care listed at up to $150,000 a year. The child care role falls under Deputy Mayor Su's portfolio. A senior advisor for "fast and free buses" commands a $180,000 salary.
These aren't backfill positions for essential city functions. They are new bureaucratic layers for pet priorities, built during what the mayor himself describes as a fiscal emergency.
The city also listed two World Cup-related spots just this month, with the tournament only two months away. The roles are temporary through August: a World Cup Activations director at $140,000 and a programming project manager at $105,000.
Hiring temporary event staff is one thing. Posting six-figure positions two months before kickoff suggests the administration is either scrambling or treating public funds as a patronage reservoir. Neither explanation flatters City Hall.
Some of the new hires would also pad out the city's existing Washington, DC office, which coordinates with federal agencies and other states and works to secure grant money and other funding. Under Adams, that office shrank to three staffers. During the Adams-era cuts, dubbed PEGs, staff shrank in half to three.
Mamdani now wants to reverse that downsizing. The question no one in the administration has answered is: what, specifically, did the city fail to accomplish with three people that it needs a larger team to do now? Expanding a federal liaison office while demanding tax hikes from residents is a choice that reveals priorities.
The fundamental problem is arithmetic, and the politics behind it. Mamdani claims a $5.4 billion budget gap and insists the only solutions are soaking the wealthy or raising property taxes on every homeowner in the five boroughs. At the same time, he is building out entirely new offices, hiring for roles that didn't exist a year ago, and inflating City Hall's headcount at a pace that dwarfs his predecessors.
The payroll trend only rose slightly from former Mayor Bill de Blasio to Adams. Under Mamdani, it is accelerating. A 20% jump over Adams is not incremental growth. It is a philosophical commitment to bigger government, funded by the people, being told there is no money left.
One Democratic operative who previously worked in city government suggested the hiring spree may be breaking the law. No specific statute was cited, but the allegation itself is notable: it's not coming from Republicans or conservative watchdogs. It's coming from Democrats who have watched City Hall from the inside.
Every new government office is a constituency. Every new hire is a stakeholder in the survival of the program that employs them. An Office of Mass Engagement with a dozen-plus staffers and a $2 million budget will, by its nature, advocate for its own expansion. An Office of Economic Justice led by a Biden administration alumna will define "justice" in ways that require more staff, more authority, and more taxpayer funding next year than this one.
This is how government grows. Not through public demand, but through internal reproduction. Offices create positions. Positions create defenders. Defenders create permanence. By the time voters notice, the line item is baked into the baseline, and anyone who questions it is accused of cutting essential services.
Mamdani isn't closing a budget gap. He's building the bureaucracy that guarantees the next one.
