Mayor Bloomberg isn’t afraid to keep swinging that budget ax.
The mayor said today that he would not rule out the possibility of municipal layoffs to deal with the city’s budget woes.
“Does it mean layoffs?” he asked. “I hope not, but we’ll just see how cooperative everyone will be,” referring to unions.
Bloomberg said the city needs to save some $1.57 billion next year.
He said when it comes to finding reductions, payroll and benefits is “where it’s going to be.”
Bloomberg said personnel, including payroll and benefits, account for 78 percent of city expenditures.
“There are very few places you can go and say there is money we can easily cut — unless you talk about personnel,” he said.
The talk about possible layoffs comes as the mayor ordered spending slashed by four percent in fiscal year 2010. The cuts are meant to plug a $5 billion projected budget deficit for the 2011 budget year.