Nov 17, 2008 12:17 pm US/Eastern
NYC Budget Woes Make For 'Difficult Road Ahead'
Reporting
Jay Dow
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg (file)
CBS
City lawmakers gathered Monday morning to discuss Mayor Bloomberg's plans to tackle the Big Apple's financial problems, which include property tax hikes coupled with budget cuts.
With the city's budget in such bad shape, council finance committee chairman David Weprin cut right to the chase: New York City has a difficult road ahead.
"Unfortunately, we may yet face even bigger challenges in the next two or three years," Weprin said Monday morning in the first of ten scheduled budget hearings.
During the hearing, the committee laid out the challenges ahead. Over the next week, the council will debate the proposed cancellation of a 7 percent property tax increase, and major across-the-board spending cuts. Much of Monday's debate focused on the Bloomberg administration's desire to cancel the already-approved $400 tax rebate.
"I believe it is not right to rescind this year's $400 rebate. Many working families are struggling," said Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "We're all gonna have to make tough choices and cut back, but the truth is, New Yorkers expected this check to come in the mail about six weeks ago."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said, however, that tough times call for tough decisions and that means decisions that not everyone will like or agree wit.
"Every city agency must push each dollar further. We're going to do that and doing that means making hard choices that will not be popular with everyone or perhaps anyone," Mayor Bloomberg said.
New York City budget director Mark Paige says even with all of the proposed actions, the city sill faces a major budget deficit that needs a lot of work.
"We still show a forecast gap through fiscal year '10 of about a $1.3 billion, and I think it's worth noting that in fiscal year '11 we're forecasting a gap of about $5 billion, give or take," he said.
Council members are likely to get an earful from constituents during the public comment portion of the hearings scheduled for next Monday.
While city lawmakers consider his financial plan, Bloomberg will meet with congressional leaders and the Obama transition team to discuss how to spend federal money to shore up the economy. A mayoral spokesman said the mayor intends to tell transition officials the new president should set aside money for infrastructure, rather than earmarking dollars for specific mass transit projects.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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