Sep 24, 2008 9:25 pm US/Eastern
Bloomberg: Get On Board Or Risk Losing Your Job
Mayor Says 7 Percent Reduction In Property Taxes Is Ancient History; New Yorkers Largely Angered By Plan
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned all NYC residents on Sept. 23 that even tougher financial times lay ahead.
AP
The Wall Street meltdown will hit everyone in New York City. Service cuts and tax hikes are the prescription being ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Read his lips. There will be higher taxes.
"We will raise property taxes back to the level they were a year and a half ago next June. In other words, the 7 percent reduction will just be put back in," Bloomberg said Wednesday.
That bleak news, coming on the heels of a $1.5 billion cut in services, is not thrilling news to some New Yorkers.
"I think Mayor Bloomberg has raised my taxes way too much already," said Max Nissenholtz of Chelsea.
But others see it as a necessarily evil to get the city out of the Wall Street-induced budget hole.
"What are you going to do? We're all going to have to pay something. It's time when people really have to start making some sacrifices," another New Yorker added.
"I think he should raise 'em. I think people who own property are probably the ones best able to help the city out right now," said Lisa Cowan of Prospect Heights.
And there was tough talk from the mayor about his ultimatum to his commissioners to come up with $500 million in budget cuts to go into effect immediately and $1 billion more that start next summer. The message: manage with less or find yourself out of a job
"That's their job and they're going to have to find a way to do it and if they can't we don't have any choice. We'll have to find some ways to do it around them or in spite of them or by replacing them," Bloomberg said.
Because the mayor's current budget anticipated a drop in Wall Street revenues, the news isn't totally grim.
"I don't think we will get to the point of layoffs," Bloomberg said. "I don't think the cuts we will have to do to get this budget in balance are of the magnitude where we would have to lay off people."
But make no mistake the $1.5 billion in cuts are on the fast track.
The mayor has given his commissioners just two weeks to figure out how to do it.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Top Secret: Military Jets
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments