The Belt Tightening Comes Too Little Too Late

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who had spent the past couple of years pushing for tax hikes, including the congestion pricing tax, is finally getting around to doing what should have been done a long time ago.

He's finally proposing budget cuts and belt tightening.

He's also going to increase more taxes, including the income tax, and take away the property tax rebate.

The mayor will also reduce the city’s work force by 3,000 employees and cancel the next training class for more than 1,100 police cadets as he seeks to help plug an anticipated $4 billion budget shortfall over the next two years.

The plan illustrates the extent to which the global economic crisis is forcing local governments — even those that have been in good economic health, like New York City’s — to downgrade their budget projections. It also suggests that Mr. Bloomberg — who just signed a controversial bill extending term limits on Monday — is anticipating intense and difficult negotiations with the City Council, and therefore trying to make his arguments as early as possible.

“It will require sacrifice from every city agency and in some senses, every New Yorker,” said Edward Skyler, the city’s deputy mayor for operations. “But we need to take these painful but necessary steps now; delaying the inevitable will only make it worse.”

In terms of staffing, Mr. Bloomberg is proposing to lay off 500 city workers and shed another 2,500 through attrition.

Among the hardest hit would be the Department of Education, with Mr. Bloomberg proposing to eliminate 475 positions — mostly in administration — of which 219 would be layoffs. But Bloomberg officials say that such cuts, while difficult, would not affect classrooms.

UPDATE:
Bloomberg is also eliminating the 7% temporary property tax break.

Note that this all comes on the day after the election was held. New York City officials and the Mayor knew that this was needed, and they waited until after the election. Nice.