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Last night, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that the new $59 billion budget (for the 2009 fiscal year, which starts on July 1) will keep the $400 property tax rebate program for homeowners for a fifth year and increases funding to the Department of Education by $129 million. Still, other sacrifices were made as Bloomberg said, "The news about the economy, and its effects on the City's finances, continues to be very sobering, and this budget reflects the uncertain economic outlook we face."
For instance, the Daily News explains the "school funding came at the expense of money the Council traditionally funnels to library services, cultural affairs, legal aid, seniors and other government services." That prompted criticism from City Councilman Charles Barron ("This stinks. The mayor should be ashamed of himself. He's pitting education against seniors") and City Councilman Bill deBlasio ("I am disappointed that with a $4.5 billion surplus, the mayor forced the Council to cut funding for essential services.").
The Council of Senior Centers and Services' Bobbie Sackman expressed her worries to the Post, "We just lost a total of about $1 million for food and rent money, base costs, for senior centers. And food? How can you cut back food for seniors when food prices are increasing?"
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, "We had to make tough choices about cutting back spending to make sure that we would fulfill our core obligations to New Yorkers." Of particular note, as the investigation into the Council's slush funds continues, the Council's discretionary spending was cut from $352 million to $232 million.
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How can you cut back food for seniors when food prices are increasing?"
stock market is f*cked, we're losing thousands and thousands of jobs every day, and there's no money coming in. people are going to have to figure out how to make do with less.
eyekantspel, well said.
I was hoping Bloomberg would have had the guts to get more cuts through in non-essential services, but he seems to resist that for political reasons. The tax situation in the city is really out of control. One of my friend's grandmother has just recently been forced to put her apartment for sale (that she's owned for 30 years) in the city because her property tax went up by double digits for the last few years and she was on a fixed income. Its ridiculous that people are forced from their homes simply because of taxes. This also affects rents too since we get those taxes rolled in.
Please cut more in non-essential areas! There is so much waste in this city. We even have to pay additional income taxes just for NYC which very few other localities have in the country and they complain of lack of money - it's sickening.
NYC to Taxpayer: Drop Dead!