[Nyclocal] Bloomberg Orders More Budget Cuts

[William Wharton]

NYTIMES 
March 4, 2008,  1:06 pm
Bloomberg Orders More Budget Cuts

By Ray Rivera

In another sign of the troubling economy, Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg today will ask all city agencies
to find ways to trim 3 percent more from their budgets
for fiscal year 2009, which begins on July 1. The step
comes on top of 2.5 percent cuts they were asked to
make in the last half of this fiscal year and a 5
percent cut next year. Those cuts ended up being about
2.7 percent in the 2008 fiscal year and 4.4 percent
for the 2009 fiscal year.

Mark Page, the city’s chief budget officer, blamed the
need for the additional reductions on Gov. Eliot
Spitzer, whose executive budget, Mr. Page said,
contains $747 million less in financing to the city
than was anticipated when budget projections were made
in January.

“We provide more than our share in revenue to the
state,” Mr. Page said at a City Council budget hearing
this morning. “We have the highest local tax burden in
the state. We must maintain services in our city so it
continues to be the successful and attractive place it
is to locate businesses, jobs, residents and tourists.
We can’t afford to lose $747 million in state
resources. The state can’t responsibly hit this region
of 8.25 million people with that loss.”

The additional 3 percent request would generate about
$600 million savings, according to city officials, but
the city for now is targeting only $500 million in
cuts. The administration will be sending out letters
later today to all city agencies giving them two weeks
to identify trims.

The request will probably generate unrest, especially
on cuts to the Education Department, which was already
set for a $324 million cut in the next fiscal year and
is undergoing a $180 million reduction in the current
fiscal year.

Talking to reporters this morning, Mr. Bloomberg said
the cuts should have minimal impact on services.

“Hopefully it will not hurt them materially,” he said.
“They are instructed to cut a little bit from every
program.”

The mayor added:

    We just don’t have the money. If you take a look
the governor’s budget which we still have to negotiate
with the governor and Albany, they have their
problems. I understand that, I’m sympathetic, but
nevertheless the governor’s budget as proposed would
cut roughly $700 million out of aid from Albany, which
is really our money that we’re sending up there.

Mr. Page and Mr. Bloomberg both said they hoped to
preserve a $400 homeowner’s property tax rebate and a
7 percent property tax cut enacted last year, but
hinted that the tax cut could be in jeopardy.

“Our intention is to try to maintain the 7 percent cut
in the rate that we had last time,” Mr. Bloomberg
said. “We have a long time between now and the budget
adoption; we’ll see what happens to the economy. But
before we even think about increasing the revenue
side, we’re going to work on the expense side and make
sure that we get the level of services no worse than
the level that people have a right to expect that will
keep this city healthy and attractive and growing.”

He added: “The first thing to do is to make sure that
we can, are able, to look the taxpayer in the eye and
say we are providing the services that this city needs
to have a future, but we are doing it as efficiently
as we can.”

Diane Cardwell contributed reporting.



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