In a recent poll, 86 percent of registered voters in New York City said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg should get rid of private contractors and consultants before laying off city employees.

By 70 percent to 24 percent, the polled voters believe, “Now is not the time to start laying off city employees, since that will lead to more unemployment and a reduction in services that are key to our quality of life.”

LRA Consulting and the polling firm of Schroth and Associates of Washington, D.C., conducted the poll of 600 registered voters from March 24 to March 26 for DC 37.

“The poll results indicate that the mayor and other elected officials should pay attention to the enormous waste of city tax dollars before they start reducing city services, undermining our quality of life and ruining the lives of thousands of municipal employees,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

According to the poll, 77 percent of the respondents say they would not vote for politicians who voted to lay off city employees instead of eliminating wasteful outside contracts and unnecessary spending.

Some 66 percent of respondents favor a tax surcharge on the wealthiest residents to help balance the city’s budget. This result in the union-commissioned survey was supported by a statewide poll released April 24 by Quinnipiac University, which found 71 percent in favor of a tax increase on the wealthy.

During the past year DC 37 has published three “White Papers,” which show that the city wastes billions of dollars annually on expenditures for outside private contractors who perform the same work as city employees at a higher cost.

An astonishing 85 percent of those polled said they believe that many outside contractors and consultants get their business with the city through political connections and campaign contributions.

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