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Mayor Bloomberg swept into his presentation of the city's new budget with the confidence of a man who has a $50 billion budget with an over $3 billion surplus. The hot hot hot real estate market helped fuel the surplus, and the Mayor painted such a rosy picture of the city's health, even though there was a $1 billion accounting mistake (not counting teachers' pensions - oops!), that some say the Democrats are left to "pick for proverbial scraps" to criticize, with mayoral hopefuls trying to remain on the offensive, with digs at how slowly the WTC development has gone to the fact that the Mayor should have done more to close the deficit. But, the Mayor did caution a real estate bust could be problematic for the city's development.
Gothamist those these words from the Mayor's announcement were Classic Mayor Bloomberg:
"We have a reason to have a grin on our face -- a big smile, maybe not, but a grin on our face -- because we have made the tough decisions and, in retrospect, I think it's fair to say that we've made the right decisions...Things are a little bit better, but we are certainly not out of the woods. Nobody should think that."Dude, you lost us at "a big smile, maybe not." If the Mayor can avert a serious economic crisis in the next six months, things are looking pretty good in the budget area coming Election Day. Next up, though, is for the City Council to agree on the budget.
You too can take a look at the FY '06 Budget yourself. Gothamist has summarized some of the main points, using the City's press release as a basis; read the points we found interesting after the jump.
Tax relief
- Rolling back sales tax on clothing & shoes that cost under $110
- Another $400 tax rebate to propery owners
Education
- Education funding increased $2.5 billion since taking office; the Department of Education will get $804 million in the new fiscal year
- Graduation rates are up; math standards up 25%, 55% reduction of schools on failing list
- $13.7 billion to create 65,000 more classroom seats
Public Safety
- Crime has dropped by 20% since 2002; murder rate at a 40 year low
- 1,000 police officers dedicated to counter terrorism
- $11 million to the FDNY to buy, test, and train use of personal safety rope systems; another $13.3 million to increase diverse recruitment of FDNY
- $1 million to upgrade and expand email to all NYPD personnel (!!)
Housing
- Construction of 68,000 affordable housing units
Economic Development
- Creation of the Industrial Business Zone, which tries to keep factory work in the city
- Creation of the Film Production Tax Incentive
- $130 million Greenpoint/Williamsburg Waterfront project
- $92 million Brooklyn Navy Yard Development
- $89 million for downtown Brooklyn development
- $66 million for S.I. homeport development
- $28 million for Jamaica Station redevelopment
- $26 million for Hunts Point revitalization
- $22 million for 125th Street redevelopment
Critical infrastructure
- Streets are cleanest ever since street cleanliness started to be tracked 30 years ago
- Introduction of a new Solid Waste plan
- $5.3 million more to fund trash basket collection
- $1.7 million to fund three more weekday S.I. Ferry runs
- $1 billion to resurface 8,000 miles of streets
Health and welfare
- Public assistance caseload decreased by 11% since 2002
- Helped 130,000 smokers quit
- $17 million for senior services and weekend meals for homebound seniors
- $225 million to modernize Harlem Hospital
Parks, libraries, and cultural
- Increased parkland by 500 acres and greenway by 24 miles since 2002
- $100 million for Fresh Kills development
- $17 million for Elmhurst Keyspan Park
- $53 million for Brooklyn Bridge Park
- $65 million for Hudson River Park
Fun fact
- Over 20 million New Yorkers have called 311 [No word on if people calling repeatedly are counted as one or many]
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Hey,
What happened to library funding? The NYPL website, which is begging for donations, says that the city will cut library funding by $16 million this year. Did that happen, or were the cuts restored?
Ever talk to anyone working in any public or social service? Things have been cut left and right. This printed budget is half-truth propaganda designed to further Bloomberg's prospects. This is shameful.
That's definitely the issue with the info - I'm just going by what the Mayor's office offered... haven't had time to truly analyze it. And of course his office isn't going list the programs he's cutting. That's why I recommend reading the budget itself - it's give the big picture.
The short-term gain comes directly from tax hikes from 2003 and the cutting of city jobs. The budget also mentions a cut in overtime for police officers, firefighters and employees from other city agencies.
Bloomberg's budget also does not include the additional billions that the schools need. Bloomberg says that the state should handle that cost. Remember, a judge recently pointed out that Albany actually has not been giving the city the proper education funding, so it's questionable if the schools will ever be properly funded under Bloomberg.
The "surplus" is also misleading, considering that we'll have deficits less than a year later. Bloomberg says fiscal 2006 shows a surplus, but 2007 is projected to have a deficit of $4.5 billion, and 2008 has a projected deficit of $4.2 billion*.
(*Source: New York Times, May 6 2005)
To put it simply, Bloomberg has pushed the numbers to make him look better in an election year.
I love this site, and mean no offense to the editors, but this comment "I'm just going by what the Mayor's office offered... haven't had time to truly analyze it" is unfortunate, considering a ton of skewed statistical information was presented here as truth.