Cathie Black wasn't the only thing Mayor Bloomberg got rid of this week. Hizzoner also quietly dropped the FDNY's much-criticized crash tax proposal from the budget.
Though the mayor technically has the ability to impose the tax without the approval of the City Council, to do so would have cost him politically at an already vulnerable time in his third term. That members of the council were actively working on bills to give them authority to stop the "fees" also certainly helped change his mind. According to a Journal source, the final push came from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who "made a strong case against it."
When the Journal asked their source if the mayor now thought the plan was misguided, all he would tell them was that "He agrees it's not going to be in this budget" and that the mayor "wouldn't have proposed it if he didn't think it was a good idea."
If the fees had been imposed, a vehicle fire or any other incident with injuries would have cost the parties involved $490. A vehicle fire without injuries would have cost $415, and incidents without fire or injuries would have cost $365.
It remains to be seen how the FDNY will now try to make up the $22 million the mayor is asking it to cut from its budget since driving slowly is not likely to cut it.
