City Council Speaker Julie Menin declined to join Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pressure campaign to get Albany to raise taxes and send more money to the city to close a budget gap.

“Right now, in the conversations that I’ve had with the governor, she was very, very clear that she is not willing to do anything on taxes,” Menin said. “We’ve got to identify savings in the budget.”

What You Need To Know

• Mayor Mamdani says the city faces a $12 billion budget gap that must be closed with higher taxes and funding from Albany

• Mamdani signed an executive order making agencies appoint chief savings officers

• Council Speaker Julie Menin said lawmakers will find savings, as well

That leaves Mamdani to argue that Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany leaders should give the city more funding and raise taxes on higher-income earners and corporations to fill what he describes as a $12 billion budget gap.

“If the state does not change its relationship to the city, if it does not raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations, then all that leaves the city with are the most painful tools,” Mamdani said on PIX11.

That could mean cuts — but the mayor says that’s a last resort.

For now, Mamdani wants efficiencies. He signed an executive order on PIX11 giving every agency five days to choose a chief savings officer and another 45 days to find savings.

It’s a due date beyond Mamdani’s Feb. 17 deadline to propose a balanced budget.

“We’re going to look through every agency to find every example,” he said.

Menin, meanwhile, also has a few ideas of her own.

“We’re going to be using new data metrics to evaluate when we’re disseminating funds to different groups because I believe we need more stringent controls that existed in the past,” Menin said.

She also proposed bringing down the city’s costs to provide healthcare to public employees and reforming no-bid contracting.

The major action from the Menin’s Council on Thursday was overriding vetoes from Mayor Eric Adams on 17 bills, including legislation to create thousands of new licenses for street vendors and pay rules for private security guards.

There were, however, three vetoes left standing: a bill giving the Civilian Complaint Review Board access to NYPD body cam footage, a bill to require more construction of affordable two- and three-bedroom apartments and a bill giving nonprofit groups the first chance to buy certain apartment buildings up for sale.