Public Employee Press

Political Action 2007
3 budgets: How they affect you
Bloomberg and Quinn end the old “dance”

DC 37 leaders will be among the representatives of unions, community groups and advocacy organizations who will appear in coming months at City Council hearings on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2008.

Released Jan 17, the $57.1 billion fiscal plan calls for $1.2 billion in tax cuts while it freezes or cuts spending in city agencies. It would eliminate city taxes on clothing and shoes, give new tax credits to small businesses and extend $400 property tax rebates for homeowners.

City funding of cultural institutions would decline by more than $4 million next year under the preliminary budget.

The administration now puts the surplus, fueled by tax revenue from real estate sales and Wall Street bonuses, at $3.8 billion — up nearly $2 billion since November.

“It’s positive that we’re not faced with a slash-and-burn budget that calls for layoffs, but we don’t believe the city should be restraining spending so much when there is a need for more services,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said.

Currently, although the local economy is growing and unemployment is relatively low at about 5 percent, one out of five residents lives in poverty. And tax experts do not expect landlords to pass along their property tax cuts to tenants.

While the preliminary budget projects a surplus for next year, the administration anticipates shortfalls in 2009 ($2.6 billion), 2010 ($3.7 billion) and 2011 ($3.6 billion). The administration blames the projected deficits on the rising costs of pension and health care for its employees and growing Medicaid obligations. But in fact, tax cuts account for half the shortfall in 2009 and 40 percent in the following two years.

Both Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said this year’s budget process would break with the past by avoiding the annual “budget dance” in which the mayor calls for millions of dollars in cuts and the council restores the funds.

The Bloomberg administration agreed to end its practice of considering additions as one-time increases rather than changes in the “baseline” budget. The change protects funding for libraries, cultural affairs and summer jobs for youth.

Under the agreement, many additions to the current budget that DC 37 and locals won through lobbying — including funds added last year for 36 Gardeners and Assistant Gardeners, seasonal workers and 81 Park Enforcement Patrol officers — will be “baseline” parts of the 2008 budget.

But the new plan fails to cover other areas important to union members, including full or partial funding for:
• summer School Crossing Guards
• Health Dept. child health clinics
• administrative support at CUNY community colleges, and
• rapid HIV testing and infant mortality programs at HHC.

— Gregory N. Heires