State of the City: $3.1 Billion Deficit
In his State of the City speech last night Mayor Bloomberg warned that this is likely to be a difficult year and announced belt-tightening measures in response to the Independent Budget Office’s projection that the city will see a $3.1 billion deficit in 2009. Bloomberg is ordering all city agency heads to cut their budgets…
In his State of the City speech last night Mayor Bloomberg warned that this is likely to be a difficult year and announced belt-tightening measures in response to the Independent Budget Office’s projection that the city will see a $3.1 billion deficit in 2009. Bloomberg is ordering all city agency heads to cut their budgets by 2.5 percent this year and 5 percent next year. Despite the predictions of economic woe, the mayor said the city would continue to offer the $400 property tax rebate and will roll out a few new services, including one that allows online access to 311. Bloomberg also noted that 2008 is the 130th anniversary of the death of Boss Tweed and said it was time to finally put to rest his style of politics.
Mayor Hails City’s Immigrants and Innovation [NY Times]
Mike Takes Baby Steps in City Plan [NY Post]
Photo from nyc.gov.
CEO’s running companies into the ground has nothing to do with the high cost of services, inflated taxes and political partonage that we pay for every day.
Should we start of list of CEO’s who run companies into the ground and get 90 million to leave? Nah. The problem with this country is unions. Unions. If there were no unions there would be health and safetey and immortality for everyone for evermore. They are perhaps the worst thing that has ever happened to humanity in the history of the universe. I don’t know why more people don’t see this and think that having such a huge proportion of the nation’s wealth in the pockets of a handful of extremely rich people might seem ridiculous.
Keep your eyes on the prize, people. UNIONS are the cause of all your problems. Oh, and terrorists. And illegal immigrants. And did I mention unions?
@9:52
Just to add to your list and show an example of what happens when there are no taxes AND union coruption…. (drum roll, big lights)
LAS VEGAS Baby!!
Take a step off the strip and its heroin addicts and meth labs. (kinda like 4th ave and 9th street)
Bravo trudylou!
$3 billion is the forecast budget deficit if no action is taken. As budget gaps go, this one is pretty manageable.
There is plenty of blame to go around for how expensive and highly taxed this city and state are. Wicks laws require public buildings to hire trades separately, reportly adding up to 30% to construction costs. Or how about the requirement low bid contracts rather than looking for best value so you don’t get cheap stuff that costs a fortune to maintain. Byzantine rules, cumbersome bureaucracy all add to the unseemly stew. Even union supporters must admit that some of the rules are counterproductive and inefficient.
Can’t blame any one group of people but you can blame our leaders. It would be so nice to have representatives who would go after these arcane laws that everyone knows are bad public policy. Self interest seems to rule so we are stuck. No guts.
Not Whinning 10:04 – Just responding to someones assertion that public employees make less – I disagree in terms of total compensation.
You chose to be in private industry, 10:01. Live with your decision and stop whining or I’ll call a waaaaaaaaaambulance for ya!
I agree with 9:58. The only people who should be allowed to retire at 50 are the billionaires who are awarded a city service such as the MTA as their own personal money-minting monopoly.
In terms of real dollars 9:53, you may be right.
But in terms of total compensation, I would disagree whole heartedly.
I work in private industry and I dont get a pension, nada, 0, Zilch. I also contribute 25% of the cost to my health plan, and I get 3 weeks vaction and 8 holidays, compared to the 4-6 weeks and 14+ holidays for most city employees. add in all of the countless benefits and perks and I think the numbers come very close.
Not to mention if you compare private industry at the same education levels as city employees. You will probably find that the total compensation for most city employees exceeds what they would get in the private market for the same education level.