Mayor
Bloomberg's bad-news
budget also means
bad news for the
City Council, which
has final approval
power over the
budget.
Council budget
negotiators can
expect a harder time
fighting for their
piece of the budget
pie with the mayor.
He's issued a $63.6
billion preliminary
budget that includes
major
belt-tightening by
city agencies, with
the reduction of
3,452 jobs by
attrition and
another 834 by
layoffs.
And faced with the
threat of losing
$1.3 billion in
state aid, the mayor
also issued a
contingency plan
calling for the
elimination, through
attrition or
layoffs, of 8,500
teachers, 3,150
cops, 1,050
firefighters and 42
engine companies.
Included in the plan
were similar big
cuts in social
service workers,
reduced garbage and
recycling pickups,
reduced
day
care vouchers and
eliminated funding
for 500 soup
kitchens and food
pantries.
"I want to make sure
we have our life
preservers ready
just in case," the
mayor said on his
WOR radio show
Friday.
Yelps of "we won't
let that happen"
have already begun
at City Hall.
Speaker Christine
Quinn vowed the
Council will
continue to "work
tirelessly" to keep
"core services in
place."
Councilman James
Vacca (D-Bronx)
chafed about the
renewed proposal to
reduce the
operations of 20
fire companies,
including City
Island's Ladder Co.
53. "Enough is
enough!" he
exclaimed.
And Councilman Peter
Vallone Jr.
(D-Queens) warned
that the mayor's
threatened police
cuts will hurt
public safety.
Soon, the
demonstrations and
protests by groups
whose funding is on
the chopping block
will begin on the
steps of City Hall.
And plenty of
Council members will
join their chorus
before a new budget
is approved in early
June.
Truth be told, the
city's financial
condition wouldn't
be all that dire
without the
threatened state
cuts. For one, the
current city budget
(for Fiscal Year
2010, which ends
this June 30) has a
$2.9 billion
surplus.
The surplus is the
result of
better-than-expected
revenues and the
mayor's spending
cuts. However, that
surplus has already
been "spent" by
Bloomberg - wisely,
say budget watchdogs
- to reduce the
deficit in the
upcoming new budget
(for FY 2011, which
starts this July 1)
by pre-paying
various bills, such
as bond payments.
That $2.9 billion
prepayment helped
shrink the FY 2011
deficit that was
initially put at
$4.9 billion. The
mayor is eliminating
the remaining
deficit by
additional agency
cuts, job reductions
and revenue
enhancements.
After all its
huffing and puffing,
the Council will
likely reach a
budget deal with the
mayor in June giving
the body control of
less than $400
million of the
overall budget. That
money will be
earmarked for
Council's budget
priorities - known
as restorations and
initiatives - and
for its $49 million
pot of "pork" funds
distributed by
individual members.
flombardi@nydailynews.com
Mayor Bloomberg
Albany Contingency
Plan>>>
