Bloomberg Blasts Budget

Budget cuts and changes in revenue sharing in New York Gov. David Paterson’s proposed fiscal 2010 budget will cost New York City $1.6 billion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last week in testimony before the state Legislature.

The cuts would cause the city to raise taxes and cut the jobs of thousands of cops, firefighters, and teachers, he said.

The budget proposal “uses the fiscal crisis as an excuse to shift state expenses to New York’s localities — in many cases, permanently,” Bloomberg said in prepared testimony. “New York City residents would shoulder a disproportionately heavy share of service cuts and changes in revenue sharing, which could force us to raise taxes locally.”

The mayor said that Paterson’s budget represents the second time in three years that the city faces the prospect of losing state revenue-sharing funds completely.

Bloomberg, who will release his preliminary fiscal 2010 budget later this week, asked lawmakers to consider a menu of savings and revenue-generating measures that he said would help the city.

Among the requests were reforms to city pension systems such as reducing benefits for new city employees, eliminating the unincorporated business tax, charging five cents for every plastic bag that shoppers use at local retailers, and helping the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by either approving tolling on East River bridges and implementing a payroll tax or coming up with an alternative solution.

Paterson’s budget proposals seek to close a combined $15 billion gap in the current fiscal year and fiscal 2010 which begins on April 1.

Bloomberg made his remarks on the same day that the state Labor Department reported that unemployment in New York had risen to 7% in December from 6% in November, the biggest month-over-month increase in the 32 years the state has maintained those records. New York City’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.4% from 6.3%.

The state’s unemployment fund has been depleted, forcing the state to borrow $90 million a week from the federal government to cover its costs, according to news reports.

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