New Yorkers, including us, may have serious disagreements with Mayor Bloomberg at times, but no one can fairly accuse him of fiscal misfeasance.
The $70.3 billion budget he presented yesterday, his 11th and penultimate spending plan, is a case in point.
And this raises a critical question: Just what kind of fiscal stewardship can New Yorkers expect two years hence, when the hands of Bloomberg’s successor will be on — if not in — the till?
Given the characters now lining up to run for the job next year, the answer is, uh, troubling.
To say the least.
Bloomberg’s plan calls for a roughly 1 percent bump in spending, with outlays swelling some $700 million. Its $70 billion bottom line, is, as usual, way too much; the mayor, a big-government liberal, surely could’ve done more to curb costs over the years.
But this year’s hike is driven largely by autopilot costs — for employee pensions, Medicaid and debt service, for example — which alone are on pace to jump nearly $2 billion, or more than 7 percent.
To make ends meet, the mayor suggests modest trims throughout his agencies, including at the Police and Fire departments, and for hospitals and social services.
He’s also issuing his annual call to close fire companies, 20 of them this year, and to snip library budgets.
Think of it as City Hall’s annual kabuki dance: The mayor proposes high-profile cuts so that City Council members will have something to “save.”
Then come “negotiations” — with Bloomberg and council leaders announcing nick-of-time “restorations.”
So don’t sweat the firehouses, folks.
Schools, meanwhile, will see their bottom line rise by a half-billion or so.
Yes, there are risks: City Hall is counting on $1 billion from the sale of new taxi medallions and $300 million in state school aid that might not materialize. A backslide in the economy could shrink revenues.
And, yes, multibillion-dollar gaps for future years remain.
But considering the power of unions in New York, the city’s big-spending liberal base — and the fecklessness of most New York pols — it’s a reasonable plan.
Which brings up Mike’s successor — perhaps Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who’s veered sharply to the left lately, and who is likely to remain on that course.
Or Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who views unions as far more important than taxpayers or fiscal soundness.
Bloomberg’s budgets may soon seem like models of fiscal decorum by comparison.