Dec 12, 2008 6:16 am US/Eastern
Bloomberg On Recession: NYC Will Pull Together
Mayor Orders City Agency Heads To Chop Another 7 Percent Off Their Budgets, Reiterates Rebate Elimination
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg sat down for an exclusive interview with CBS 2 HD's Marcia Kramer and explained why the city has to raise taxes and eliminate rebates. He said the city's financial problems are much worse than you think.
CBS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has asked all city agency heads to take out their knives and hack off another 7 percent from their budgets. He also wants to rescind a property tax cut and rebates, a move that's meeting stiff opposition within the City Council.
"Make no mistake; I would like to send out the checks," Bloomberg said. "It's pretty hard not to have a smile on your face when you can go around handing out $400 to everybody who owns their own house."
But with city revenues down over 13 percent from last year and a $1.3 billion gap in the budget, Mayor Bloomberg does not expect to be smiling -- and warns, nobody else will be either.
The City Council is resisting that measure and proposed an $80 million increase in the hotel tax as an alternative, which Bloomberg said may have to happen anyway.
The mayor has ordered agencies to find an additional $1.4 billion in cuts, this on top of $1.5 billion of cuts already proposed.
"You're not going to have as many city employees and that's going to work its way through every single agency," Bloomberg said. "And the bigger the agency the more the impact will be."
One immediate impact is being felt by the FDNY. Next month's academy class has been postponed, part of its efforts to find $95 million in additional cuts.
"It seems prudent at this time to not bring on a new class until we know better exactly where our cuts will be," FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.
The mayor on Thursday suggested closing some fire houses may be the next move. However, he promises New York will not return to the dark days of the 1970s, when crime soared and the infrastructure crumbled. He did say taxes will have to go up; the cuts will affect everyone and will be painful, but that the city's future is still bright.
"Families go through tough times and they pull together," Bloomberg said. "Cities can go through tough times and this city is going to pull together."
Bloomberg pointed out the crime rate has decreased over the past seven years despite budget cuts in the NYPD.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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