Mayor Bloomberg yesterday called council members who voted against the 7 percent property-tax hike “gutless” – and urged that they be booted.
“Those that didn’t [vote for it] are really trying to slap our uniformed services and other employees in the face. They sit there and say, ‘I want more cops. I want our cops to get better pay,’ and then they don’t vote for ’em. It’s just gutless,” he said on his weekly radio show.
He spoke less than 24 hours after the council approved his request for the increase. Eighteen council members voted no.
Bloomberg said voters should “come to understand that’s not good government and [the 18 legislators] shouldn’t be there.”
The attack was surprising in its timing and ferocity – after all, the tax hike passed by a comfortable 33-18 margin, wider than the votes on extending term limits.
And despite extracting some concessions, the council basically gave Bloomberg what he wanted.
“It’s lucky he didn’t say that a day earlier or this wouldn’t have gotten through,” grumbled one supporter of the hike.
Councilman Jimmy Vacca (D-Bronx) shot back: “I think It took guts to say this type of tax falls on seniors . . . on people facing foreclosure . . . on new immigrants having a hard time making ends meet. I’m proud of my vote.”