By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

Our city budget is far more than a financial balance sheet. It is a social blueprint for what kind of New York we will live in, who will reap the benefits and who will pay.

We in DC 37 understand that the national recession and the Sept.11 attack have wounded the city's economy, eliminated jobs and reduced tax revenues. But we also know from bitter experience that deep cuts in public services will undermine the economy, weaken the recovery, and damage the climate for business to make a comeback, provide jobs and pay taxes.

Many of the cuts the mayor has proposed are simply too large for agencies to implement without hurting the city and people they are supposed to help. If we weaken our schools, our children will not be ready for the employment opportunities of the future. If we neglect our libraries, museums, parks and public safety, tourists will spend their dollars elsewhere.

Relying mainly on service cuts to balance the budget discriminates against working and lower income New Yorkers - including most of the city's minority and immigrant population - who depend on public transportation, send their children to the public schools, use public libraries and go to public hospitals.

Slashing agency budgets discriminates doubly against municipal employees. The vast majority of us live in the city and depend every day on public services. But when hiring freezes leave fewer employees to share the duties, we bear the burden of overwork. And when the budget director hints at layoffs, it is our families who live in fear.

I am pressing for more positive approaches to budget-balancing.

The first is to restore fairness to the process by looking at the revenue side of the budget equation, especially the idea of reestablishing the commuter tax.

Our members provide the services that enable hundreds of thousands of commuters to make a good living here. Executives from Scarsdale drive on streets and drink water from pipelines that our members maintain. Lawyers from Long Island count on our EMS crews to rescue them if they are injured, our hospital aides to care for them and our clerical workers to keep their records.

A tax of only a few cents a day toward the cost of these services would bring in about $500 million a year - enough to cancel all the projected cuts in schools, libraries and museums, health and hospitals. There is no reason the mayor should not join us in pressing the governor and the Legislature to reinstate the commuter tax now.

Home style economics: Cut the waste
The other thing we absolutely must do is eliminate the vast amount of waste that inflates the spending side of the budget.

I don't have a background in big business, but I have plenty of experience in the family sector of the economy - keeping a household together and putting a child through college. And as I grew up, I learned to watch every penny so we would have enough to eat. We had to spend responsibly, so we could live in dignity and help out those who were needier.

New York City must do no less.

Rank-and-file municipal employees are in the best position to identify over-spending. I am asking every member in every agency to participate in this project. You can help the union show the mayor the savings that can prevent harmful budget cutbacks and give the city some flexibility in collective bargaining.

Does your department contract out work that union members could do? Do you see uniformed employees in jobs that civilian workers can perform for less? Can you find ways to enhance revenues without hurting those least able to pay?

Please send your ideas to Editor, Public Employee Press, DC 37, 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007, or e-mail PEPeditor@DC37.net.

I promise you that your effort will not be in vain. A union committee will evaluate each proposal, our Research Dept. will study the potential savings, and the ones that are sound and cost-effective will be presented to the mayor.

We will hold the fiscal plan to the highest standards: The spending side must be responsible, and the revenue side must spread the burden equitably.

Public employees have sacrificed to save the city in the past, but it would be unreasonable to ask us to give again without eliminating every ounce of fat. And it would be outrageous to come to city employees, hat in hand, unless the other hand holds a budget that cuts out waste and shares the pain fairly.