Bloomberg Promises New Budget Will Be "Very Painful"

Also painful: Watching the Knicks (NYC Mayor's Office)

Next week, Mayor Bloomberg will have to present the final numbers of his austere $65.6 billion budget that features thousands of layoffs, and he told reporters it will not be pretty. But Bloomberg made the point, "New York City has to balance its budget by law. We will go ahead and do that, you can rest assured. And it will be very painful because we have a lot less money, which means a lot fewer people... What we have to do is decide will it be fewer cops, fewer firefighters, fewer teachers, fewer this, fewer that."

The City Council usually tries to restore funds that get cut, but according to the Post, "one source said that will be much more difficult this year because tax revenues, which had been coming in beyond projections, have flattened since the preliminary budget was issued in February." And City Hall News reports, "This year, some Council members say the austere proposals sketched out in Bloomberg's preliminary budget are making them more nervous than usual." Specifically, many are concerned with Bloomberg's proposed "$90 million in reductions to the ACS budget, which advocates say will hurt subsidies for nearly 17,000 children this year alone, in addition to losing 14,000 child-care slots since 2006."

City Councilman David Greenfield, who told City Hall News he couldn't vote for a budget with those cuts, said, "It's a matter of fairness. It's a matter of equity. It's a matter of morality. This is the line in the sand." Bloomberg's spokesperson says that a lack in federal funds is what is driving the decrease to ACS, claiming that city funds to ACS have actually increased by 20%.

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By Jen Chung in News on April 26, 2011 9:11 AM

Comments [rss]

aspiringrapper

How nice that he can enjoy courtside seats while dismissing the firefighters & teachers losing their jobs as "this & that."

canofpeas

Tell us Mr. Mayor, will the new budget be as "painful" as taking it up the ass?

randomtransplant

You can't force the middle class out & refuse to tax the people who replace them. Its just not sustainable. The nice and gentrified neighborhoods are being financed by the taxes 'real' new yorkers are pissing away from their own streets.

Property values will always be high - its the only form of progressive taxes the city has anymore.

'no more money' rings very, very hollow in a city with hundreds of thousands of millionaires & one of the worlds biggest concentrations of profitable multi-national's.

randomtransplant

In other words:

random transplants and millionaires are bleeding the good hardworking people of new york dry. And most us arn't even grateful.

Thank you Mr Mayor from Boston.

Guest

That's true, but even he had to know he wasn't going to be able to bully his way across city politics. The best he could do (and I think he has done) is hope to bring some order to a large bureaucracy. His company and the city have that in common at least.

randomtransplant

Did you catch this mornings article about the cop whose been using city equipment to steal drugs for a decade?

Were you around during 'snowmageddon'?

Did you notice the waste of time & $ that was Cathrine Black?

Did you notice how the MTA fare jumps about 10% a year?

Does the word "citytime" mean anything to you?

Did you hear how after all was said and done Atlantic Yards will probably only be a stadium anyway?

Have you ever sat in the reception area of the Mayors Office of Contract Services and noticed that even the clock labeled "time left to get things done" is broken? (I'm not kidding).

Roger_the_Shrubber

"What we have to do is decide will it be fewer cops, fewer firefighters, fewer teachers, fewer this, fewer that."

How about fewer bureaucrats, politicians and administrators?

cmdrogogov

How about we just have gangs of workers running around with nobody coordinating what they do?

RabbiLaFunque

He takes a different approach with his own company, and his own personal wealth, which has tripled since he had been mayor. The little fucker seems to know how to make shit happen...for himself. Having this putz for mayor of NYC for a decade has been extremely good...for Bloomberg!

Guest

That's probably because 'the little fucker' doesn't have to fight with everyone tooth and nail to make even the smallest decision a reality in his company or his personal wealth. I think you just pointed out one of the benefits of not having to rule by committee.

RabbiLaFunque

Yeah, the little fucker hates democracy. His elections weren't won, they were purchased.

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

F this little fucker. and the squirt, we live in a democracy.
of course, you're a supporter of the bloombag.

Guest

I wasn't advocating living in a dictatorship - benevolent or otherwise. I was just saying that maybe people shouldn't compare Bloomberg's personal fiefdoms to his public office. The dynamics couldn't be more different.

randomtransplant

Comparing the two was the central pillar of all three of his campaigns, though.

Guest

You have to admit it's a good thing to have someone play bad cop in these things. Bloomberg doesn't seem like he pulls capricious or arbitrary budget shenanigans. Between him and City Council we seem to have some sort of balance. The City Council stops Bloomberg from cutting too hard to the bone in his zeal to balance the budget, and Bloomberg keeps the City Council from being too profligate in their zeal spend their way out of social problems.

As much as a lot of people hate him (full disclosure: I have always been a huge Bloomberg supporter), this city does better with someone like him around. Think about how easily we could have ended up like someplace like Las Vegas in this whole economic mess.