Sure, when it comes to Washington’s spending, he’s got all the answers. But critics note New York City’s debt has ballooned on Mayor Bloomberg’swatch.
Hizzoner said on Tuesday that fixing the federal budget is “just not that difficult to do, if you have courage.”
He scolded President Obama and both houses of Congress for their budget gridlock, sketching out a costcutting, taxraising, entitlement shaving plan that he said would dismantle the deficit and balance the budget in 10 years.
“I was reminded of the guy telling his neighbor how to fix his roof while his own is leaking,” Councilman James Oddo (RSI/Brooklyn) said of Bloomberg’s lecture. “Ten years into the mayor’s term, we have large, longterm fiscal problems we have not dealt with.”
Bloomberg’s budgets have increased the city’s capital debt by 72 percent —from about $42.7 billion when he took office in 2002 to $73.5 billion today.
That comes out to $8,763 of debt for every New Yorker, or 18 percent of an average New Yorker’s personal income — up from $5,293, or 14.3 percent, in 2002.
”Debt above 15 percent of personal income is not a good idea,” said Nicole Gelinas, of the Manhattan Institute. Worse, the mayor has kicked the can down the road when it comes to the budget busters of the future. “The city continues to take on pension and healthcare benefits for its current and future retirees that it cannot afford,” Gelinas said.
“Looking ahead, the budget gap is increasing,” agreed Bruce Berg, associate professor of political science at Fordham University. “The next mayors will have their work cut out for them.”
But City Hall defendedits debt management.
“Unlike the federal government, we pay our bills, including debt payments, in full every single year,” said administration spokesman Marc LaVorgna. “The mayor has kept the city’s fiscal house in order.”
Strict budget rules separate daytoday spending on services, salaries and programs — the expense budget—from spending on roads, bridges, and buildings—the capital budget.
The expense budget, which by lawmust be balanced every year, is funded by taxes and fees. Money for the capital budget comes from bonds that the city sells to investors and must pay off, with interest, over many years. The city’s growing debt comes from increases in capital spending, which means higher principal and interest payments.
“The mayor has every right to criticize the federal budget problems,” Oddo said. “We have every right to point out the irony that, back on the ranch, you still have structural budget problems that are not going away.”