With Wall Street's internally-created disaster rampaging the economy, New York and NYC in particular are feeling the effects on multiple levels. Governor Paterson went ahead this summer (and probably next month as well) to cut the state budget by $427 million with more cuts to come. Now Bloomberg is following up with cutbacks of his own and putting taking away last year's property tax cut as well.
From The NY Times:
With an eye on Wall Street’s turmoil and New York City’s fragile economy, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered city agencies on Tuesday to cut spending by about $500 million this year and $1 billion next year."Across the board" is exactly the way it sounds. Education, Fire, Parks, Homeless Services and DoT are all expected to significantly reduce costs for this year and next. Of course, as the Times and everyone else is well aware of, next year is also a city-wide election and those cuts Bloomberg desires might not be as easy as they have been for him before. That is especially so if he gets his way and has term-limits extended, then he'll be running for re-election as well.The cuts are to be made across the board, affecting agencies including the Police Department, which must cut costs by $95 million this year, and the school system, which needs to trim $185 million.
Over all, the reductions represent 2.5 percent of the agencies’ budgets this year and 5 percent next year.
The midyear budget cuts are intended to provide a financial cushion should the city’s tax revenue, which is heavily dependent on Wall Street’s profits, drop further, as many expect.
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