CITY HALL — MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI is in discussions to recruit Richard Lee, the City Council’s finance division director, to serve as commissioner of the Department of Finance, according to the New York Daily News.
The move would come in the middle of budget negotiations between City Hall and the Council, where Lee has led fiscal talks since joining under former Speaker Adrienne Adams in December 2022.
A mayoral spokesperson said no final decision had been made. Jeffrey Shear is currently serving as acting commissioner; Lee previously ran unsuccessfully for a Queens Council seat in 2021.
The mayor proposed a $127 billion spending plan and is weighing property tax increases to close a multibillion-dollar shortfall.
The overture risks deepening friction with Speaker Julie Menin; last week Mamdani publicly criticized the Council’s budget forecast as a document that “raises more questions than it answers.”
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