Opinion

MIKE’S MODEST MESSAGE

First, he did no harm.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday pres ented his seventh State of the City Address and proposed, well . . . not very much at all.

No grandiose schemes of the sort Gov. Spitzer proposed last week during his own moment in the spotlight. No outsized spending initiatives involving money the city probably doesn’t have.

And that’s a good thing.

Indeed, Gotham’s come so far in the past 15 years – thanks to the Rudy Giuliani Revolution and Mike’s at times brilliantly innovative stewardship – there’s not a whole lot left to fix.

Which is why Hizzoner’s “bold vision” yesterday amounted to little more than wise tinkering at the margins – adorned with dancers, a choir, five Queens families of diverse backgrounds and even some kids in bathing suits.

The city’s humming nicely, compared to 15 years ago. Crime’s at a low point, there’s a serious effort under way to improve the schools, swaths of the city are set for new development . . .

(None of which did Mike fail to note.)

Which is not to say there are no dangers. Yesterday, financial markets tumbled further: The S&P 500 hit a 15-month low, while the Dow fell 307 points – for a total drop of more than 1,000 points just this year.

The city’s short-term economic future is frustratingly uncertain – and thus, so are city tax revenues, which depend heavily on Wall Street’s performance.

So it was a bit odd that Mike, a former securities-trade businessman, had little to say about the economy or the budget – even if he is slated to present his spending plan next week.

The mayor did vow not to hike taxes. Indeed, he wants to extend the $400 tax rebates for homeowners and last year’s broader 7 percent property-tax rollback.

New Yorkers are supposed to be ever-so-grateful to Hizzoner for those presidential-election-year goodies (again, he’s not running). In truth, even with them, property taxes will still be way above what they were when he took office.

As a candidate, recall, Mike vowed not to jack up local levies, which were already among the highest in America. “Raising taxes when we’re going into a declining economic environment is about as bad a fiscal and monetary policy as you can possible have,” he said.

Yet in his very first year, he slapped a whopping 18.5 percent hike on property owners.

At the time, everyone considered the hike “temporary.” How rich.

So New Yorkers can be forgiven for not jumping for joy at the thought of being taxed more, instead of a lot more, than they were a few years ago.

As for the more marginal proposals – ending social promotion for eighth-graders, setting up a new commission to review possible charter reforms, etc. – none was ill-advised. (Why should eighth-graders be pushed into high school if they’re not ready for it?)

But as Mayor Mike begins his final two years in office, his biggest challenge will clearly be the budget.

Lowering city taxes is the one thing he hasn’t done. If he can pull that off – in a shaky economy, no less – it will be impressive.

Will he even try?