New Yorkers can breathe easy: Mayor Bloomberg won’t raise any major taxes — but instead plans to plug a $5 billion budget hole with a modest haircut to the city’s headcount, some newfound revenue and assorted other savings.
Bottom line: a $63.6 billion spending plan that, despite what some may say, spares the city huge pain.
Not bad.
Sure, Mike could’ve been tougher. These are tough times, after all; with a $5 billion cash gap (and the city’s nation-leading tax burden), this might be the moment for deeper cuts.
Still, Bloomberg is slicing some $375 million off what he calls “controllable expenses” — essentially, the cost of running city agencies.
He plans to shed 4,286 positions — perhaps issuing 834 pink slips. And he’s calling for smaller raises for teachers — and threatening to lay off 2,500 of them if their union bosses say no.
Four city pools will close, as will a 24-hour drop-in center for those seeking shelter. And there’s plenty more trims that folks are already calling “painful.”
Actually, one set of cuts — of 1,292 police officers, through attrition — seems downright wrongheaded, given the importance of keeping down crime. But Hizzoner had to make some tough choices, and he’ll take plenty of heat for it.
The City Council, the self-appointed guardian of municipal funding for this interest or that, will balk.
Bloomberg’s got to stand pat: No new taxes — and keep the budget balanced.
He’s off to a good start.