Sep 24, 2008 6:31 am US/Eastern
NYC Mantra For Now: Pay More, Get Less
Mayor Bloomberg Wants $1.5 Billion In Cuts, Continuing Through, After 2010; Schools, NYPD Could Be Hardest Hit
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned all NYC residents on Sept. 23 that even tougher financial times lay ahead.
AP
Brace for impact.
Even as Congress discusses the fate of your federal tax dollars for a financial rescue package, City Hall warns you'll be paying more locally and getting less.
We could all be feeling the effects very soon.
From the cops on the beat, to the firehouse, to the classroom, the Wall Street collapse is pressuring the city budget big time. On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked department heads to draw up another round of cuts to the tune of $1.5 billion for this year and next. His people say it's a worst case scenario.
"Running the city, and being the mayor doesn't mean you sit there with your fingers crossed," Deputy Mayor Ed Skylar said. "You need to take action and maybe you prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
The numbers are sobering. Roughly $100 million from sanitation and the fire department each, almost $300 million from the NYPD and the schools could get hammered for more than $500 million.
Expect a street fight over the particulars, even as the city prepares to levy a 7 percent property tax hike just to slow the bleeding.
"That's going to affect homeowners, people who have condos, renters … they're going to feel that and a lot of people are already struggling," said Carol Kellerman of the Citizens' Tax Committee.
Pay more, get less was also the message also on Capitol Hill, where the Bush administration is pressing for the $700 billion bail-out of financial firms.
Either way, we're going to pay.
"It makes me angry," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said. "When you ask about taxpayers being on the hook, guess what? They're already on the hook."
Saving Wall Street with federal dollars, though, could mitigate the local impact but no one knows for sure. Congress isn't about to write a blank check.
"There are those in public debate who have said we must act now," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "The last time I heard that I was on a used car lot."
What happens in Washington will impact our local situation. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn told CBS 2 HD some of the New York cuts may be "too tough to bear."
Finding the money will occupy much of our political energy in the year to come.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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