A top city official announced Wednesday that in an effort to cut even more from the state budget the FDNY is indefinitely suspending its next round of recruits.
Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler announced Wednesday that one of the cost-cutting measures will be placing a hiring freeze on Fire Department recruiting.
“At this point, it doesn’t make sense to bring people in, considering the situation where, before we’ve done the analysis on the new round of budget cuts,” said Skyler. “That class is being delayed indefinitely.”
Council members were quick to blast the plan, saying sacrificing public safety will only lead to more economic pain.
“If you cut the police force, fire department, with economic times getting harder in the future, we’re going to have a higher crime rate,” said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. “And, you’re going to have worse economic times. It’s a horrible combination. It’s a recipe for disaster. We can’t allow it to happen.”
The decision stems from a budget memo sent by Mayor Michael Bloomberg Tuesday night, calling on agency heads to cut an additional 7 percent from the budget – in an effort to save $1.4 billion.
“To put that in perspective, that is the budget of the Fire Department by itself. It’s the budget of the Sanitation Department by itself, or the budget of [the Administration for Children’s Services], the Departments of Transportation and Parks combined. So the numbers are truly staggering,” said Skyler.
The city forecasts a deficit of $1.3 billion for fiscal year 2010.
The cuts are in addition to earlier cuts ordered by the mayor of 2.5 percent from city agencies for the remainder of this fiscal year and 5 percent for next year.
City Council members say they want to discuss the most reasonable ways to make sensible cuts – and that they want to look at every possibility before they consider raising taxes.
(Source: NY1)
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4 Responses
WHEN WILL BLUMBERG GET IT? THIS CITY IS NOT A BUSSINES ITS A CITY U CANT CUT WHAT EVER U WANT.
I hope the fire station to be closed will be the one closest to the mayor’s office and when there will be a fire, it should take so much time for the first fire truck to arrive that it will be more damage in his office then he saved by closing it. Then he will find a better way how to balance the budget.
Mr. Money-Bags Mayor needs to come up with some ideas to stimulate the economy in NYC.
The city is in real g’hakten tzaros monetarily speaking. I still remember under Abe Beame and Ed Koch how they cut both N.Y.P.D. and F.D.N.Y. But, it did not attract anymore more business. It just made it a more dangerous city!