The New York Times-20080126-Mr- Bloomberg-s Budget Plan- -Editorial-
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Mr. Bloomberg's Budget Plan; [Editorial]
New York has never had a more fiscally fluent mayor than Michael Bloomberg, a self-made billionaire. As he unveiled his preliminary $58.5 billion budget this week, the mayor warned of challenges ahead, but he also predicted that he could successfully steer the city through another downturn. There are a lot of uncertainties, but we take comfort in knowing that Mr. Bloomberg has prepared New York to weather bad times.
The $4.6 billion in boom-time surpluses he salted away will help balance budgets this year and next. Predictions of huge future shortfalls -- $4.2 billion in 2010 and $5.6 billion in 2011 -- meant the mayor had to begin cutting, but thankfully not slashing, services.
Next year's spending will actually increase slightly because of obligations like Medicaid and pension costs, leaving less for other programs. Still, as Mr. Bloomberg looks for ways to save about $1.5 billion this year and next, we wish he hadn't decided to shortchange senior programs, summer jobs for teenagers and libraries. We would also like to see details of his plan to decrease education spending by more than $300 million next year. Even from an education budget of $17 billion, it could hurt.
Mr. Bloomberg's proposal to cut funds for 1,000 police officer positions, while dire sounding, is more like bookkeeping. The force that has kept crime so low is not at full strength, so its size will not really change.
The mayor seems eager to keep a $400 property tax rebate for homeowners, even though most New Yorkers rent and don't reap the reward. He sounds less committed to, and more pragmatic about his promised, $1 billion, 7 percent property tax reduction. That may have to be revoked to replenish city coffers. We applaud his one proposed tax increase: 50 cents more for a pack of cigarettes. That is both sound fiscal and health policy, and we urge the mayor to press hard for Albany's approval.
Preliminary budgets are built on best guesses, and the mayor and the City Council have until July to negotiate a final plan. All signs -- from the subprime mortgage crisis to Wall Street's faltering fortunes -- point to a need for prudence. In that, Mr. Bloomberg excels.
