It keeps getting worse.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned yesterday that the city faces budget gaps of $3.5 billion and $8 billion in the next two fiscal years – far higher than previous forecasts.
That’s a sharp increase from the $1.3 billion and $5 billion deficits Mayor Bloomberg projected last month in his budget plan for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. It even surpasses the state Financial Control Board’s dire figures that came out just five days ago and put the city’s budget gaps at $2.3 billion and $6.4 billion.
The FCB didn’t have time to include the impact of severe cuts in state aid proposed by Gov. Paterson on Dec. 16.
But DiNapoli did.
“Balancing the state budget will require sacrifices that could hinder the city’s efforts to balance next year’s budget,” is how DiNapoli gently put it. The numbers released by DiNapoli weren’t as gentle.
They showed that Paterson’s plan – if approved by the Legislature – would widen the city’s budget gap by more than $1 billion a year.
Bloomberg is scheduled to release his updated strategy for dealing with that possibility next month.