Mayor Michael Bloomberg says David Paterson’s proposed budget would be balanced by a bloodbath in New York City.
The Mayor predicted it would force him to lay off 8,500 teachers and 10,000 other city employees, including more than 3,000 police officers and 1,000 firefighters.
City jails would lose 900 correction officers, leaving the current inmate population unmanageable and city streets would lose 50 percent of the trash-can pickups that keep them clean.
At a joint hearing in Albany this morning, Bloomberg testified that Paterson’s plan is wildly disproportionate, forcing the five boroughs to absorb 94 percent of revenue cuts to counties and shifting hundreds of millions of dollars in state costs to the city.
“Want to guess how that’s going to sit with taxpayers?” Bloomberg asked. “Let me tell you the voters of New York City aren’t going to take it.”
Bloomberg also took a swipe at the Metrocard promise he says Governor Paterson broke to NYC schoolchildren:
“We’re disappointed that full funding for student Metrocards has not been restored in the executive budget, as the Governor promised it would,” he said. “Do you really think it’s fair for our kids to suffer while other State agencies are protected?”
Governor Paterson has defended his plan against the Mayor’s criticism, calling this “a budget of necessity,” and suggesting that Bloomberg too, will have to make unpopular cuts.
Bloomberg is expected to unveil his preliminary NYC budget plan, known as “the January plan” on Thursday. One interesting question will be whether he factors in these proposed state cuts to his presentation and issues a doomsday budget plan — or instead, presents a “best case scenario” in the hopes that a compromise in Albany will provide relief.
In theory, the state’s budget should be negotiated and passed by the April 1 deadline, leaving city officials enough time to adjust the city’s budget by July 1. But Bloomberg may add some more belt-tightening steps now in preparation for a virtual famine in funding from Albany.
(Source: NBC New York)
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9 Responses
When less people are working it means less income tax. Less people working means less consumers making purchases/ This means less need to produce. This causes empty stores and less rent revenue. At the same time,there are more needy people who collect benefits. When nothing is produced no one can get benefits.It’s a vicious cycle. How to break this is what our leaders must figure out.
Hey Mr. Maya, why don’t you start with all of your nanny state programs especially start with pulling back the DOH regulations concerning food? Then you would encourage commerce.
And another thing; CUT TAXES! I typed that big enough so that you would not need your spectacles to read it.
does any one know the number to the govorner office thanx
Why not cut salaries. A 10% paycut for all city employees would save more than 10% (some would look for work elsewhere), and save a huge amount without radically cutting services. Every other sector in the country has been seeing wages fall, so perhaps civil service should have substantial reductions in pay, similar to what was done during the depression (when inflation ceased to be a factor, and staying employed was more important than getting a raise).
Dear City dwellers,
Get ready for an onslaught of tickets. Brownies will be sent out in droves to ticket away. Sanitation inspectors will be going through your recyclables and writing tickets. And of course Buildings & HPD inspectors will be sent out there writing expensive violations.
Notice how when Bloomy has to cut city workers none of the above are ever included in the cuts. In fact during the past 8 years of “Shibud Bloomberg” he has added many more ticket/violation writers.
Dear Friends,
I have figured out how to avoid the financial suffering imposed upon us by our chosen 3rd term Mayor.
1-Don’t own real estate, not a house nor a building. That way you will avoid DOB,HPD & DOS violations. Rather live in a rent-controlled apartment so your landlord can’t even pass on his expenses to you as they increase.
2-Get rid of your car and just ride a bike. You will never again get a “block the box” ticket or a meter ticket (after the 5 min grace period of course-thank you Simcha Felder) nor will the ever increasing price of the metro card affect you. (just watch out for blunt objects which may be hurled at you when riding through Willy).
3-Do not own a business. This way you avoid all the annoying city regulations imposed on small business.
If you follow my suggestions you may actually enjoy life in the city. You’ll make our Emperor so happy you may even get a “good citizen” award.
Signed,
A very un-happy New Yorker
akuperma, you know that is not what can happen. Your buddies of the SEIU have seen to it that all of the municipal employees of New York City have big, fat contracts.
ani oymer, how sad but how true.
To #4, and everyone else who thinks city workers have cushy jobs – you’re very wrong. Even in the tech postions, city workers make significantly less then their counterparts in the private sector. And many city workers make barely minimum wages. NYC teachers make less then those in suburbs, and even if we dont’ send our kids to public schools personally, I’m sure no one would want to see public schools without faculty and by the way, streets without police (not brownies – police), because the police don’t want to risk their lives for minimum wages either.
Perhaps the biggest “hit” that city workers take is the fact that every last penny of the their income is on their W2. There’s no playing around with income taxes, writing off “business expenses”. There’s no haggling with yeshiva administrations about tuitions because it is what it is. How many people who are self employed declare way less on their taxes then they actually earned?
AWoman_outside_bklyn, how wrong you are. I used to work for the city many, many years ago. Between the pension, health insurance, life insurance, etc. the city worker makes far more than their private sector counterpart. It is the private sector that is enslaved to the city government to cushion your budgets. You know, people like ME!!!
Well, Bubby Flatbush, I work there now, and I know what others in comparable fields earn. If you worked there, as you said “many, many years ago”, then you may have been in the Tier I pension fund. Those of us who came in later are in Tier IV or less. Hardly enough to live on. And what life insurance do city workers get? The only point you may be right about is health insurance, although when I first came into the city, very few doctors were part of the HMO’s that the city offers.
Of course, soon will all be under Obamacare, and will never have to worry about healthcare again.
Not.