Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg revealed his "bleak," $62.9 billion budget which includes laying off 11,000 workers, closing fire companies, senior centers and pools and no new tax increases. And he laid much of the blame upstate, "We face a terrible price for Albany’s irresponsibility," accused the state government of "starving" the city, and added, "I will remind everybody who, unfortunately, may lose their jobs that it is because of Albany's fiscal irresponsibility."
Specifically, since the state reduced the city's education funding by $493 million, the city says it will have to lay off "6,414 teachers and other pedagogical positions in the coming school year - 4,419 through layoffs and 1,995 through attrition." Additionally, there's a $1.3 billion budget gap the city must close—$800 million of which expected to be due to loss in state aid. (Overall, the AP reports, "Forecasts for city tax revenues are up slightly, from $42.1 billion this fiscal year to projected $43.2 billion in fiscal 2011. They are still below the pre-recession level of $43.9 billion in fiscal 2008.")
Governor Paterson's budget director Robert Megna responded by emailing a statement to reporters, "The mayor's budget uses the state as a scapegoat to shirk responsibility for their own budget choices" and accused the mayor of using "selective accounting." When NBC New York's Melissa Russo read aloud Megna's words to the mayor, Bloomberg said, "He can say that, but I think you won't put it on television. It's the most outrageous thing he could say."
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was on Bloomberg's side, telling reporters, "If Albany doesn’t get their collective act together, they’re going to destroy this city. This is the equivalent of ‘Ford to New York: Drop Dead.’ This is ‘Albany to New York: Drop Dead.’"
