The $73.9 billion budget Mayor de Blasio unveiled Thursday is sure to draw plenty of praise and criticism in coming days. But when it comes to small-business fines, this much is clear: De Blasio’s got it right.
The new budget has total fine revenue dropping 8 percent, to $789 million from $859 million. Fines from the Health Department, such as at restaurants, dip 44 percent. And fines from Consumer Affairs will go down 21 percent.
This has to be music to the ears of thousands of Gotham’s mom-and-pop shops and eateries. For years now, they’ve struggled with a bizarre network of rules and aggressive, unpredictable enforcement.
It’s good news, too, for customers who’ve had to bear the extra cost of the fines in the form of higher prices. Workers might also feel more secure knowing their bosses are less likely to suffer a sudden hit that could put their continued employment at risk.
Let’s be honest: These fines are really just one more tax — on top of all the other taxes that have been dragging down the bodegas, eateries and assorted retailers.
“The punitive, arbitrary approach to fines, the revenue-focused approach, was really undermining small business” and its ability to create jobs, said the mayor.
Of course, de Blasio’s budget is just a proposal. It still needs the City Council’s blessing. And we’ll have more to say about some of the more negative aspects of a budget that spends $8,800 per New Yorker.
But give Mayor Bill his due: He promised to rein in this bureaucratic abuse, and he’s making good. And it’s the city’s gain.