When life gives you a billion-dollar boondoggle, use the settlement to make budget-saving lemonade! At least that appears to be Mayor Bloomberg's logic. Hizzoner is set to announce his executive budget proposal this morning, but yesterday he gave a little early taste and it's something of a surprise. In order to fill "an unexpected hole in the budget" the city is planning on using that half-billion CityTime settlement the city announced in March. See, there's a silver lining in the city getting swindled!
According to the reports, there is a $495 million gap in the budget this year due to projected reductions in tax revenue (thank the financial sector). To deal with it, Bloomberg wants to use the CityTime dough (which should start coming in over the next few months) to fill the hole. One good thing out of that? We probably won't be dealing with another round of teacher firings. So that's nice. Here's what WNYC says to expect from today's budget (the mayor's office isn't releasing exact numbers early):
The mayor's analysis will show that high tech, film and TV production as well as tourism are all emerging as promising revenue generators for the city.
But instability in the global credit markets has produced disappointing results in the financial sector, which historically been the city's primary tax revenue earner.
One thing that appears off the table is reducing 1,800 teaching positions through attrition. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn raised objections to the proposal when Bloomberg delivered his preliminary budget in February. Both the Mayor's office and the Speaker's office confirmed those reductions are now off the table.
Once the mayor's budget is announced he and the City Council have until June to reach a final budget.
