NEW YORK (AP) — New York City
lawmakers passed a $63 billion budget for the next fiscal year on Tuesday, a
spending plan that shrinks the workforce by 5,300 jobs, trims city
services and raises various fees.
The budget for fiscal year
2011, which begins Thursday, includes about $1 billion in cuts, and
officials said New Yorkers will
feel the pain.
“We did the best that we could with the hand we were dealt by
the state, the federal government and the economic downturn,” said
Domenic Recchia Jr., chair of the City Council’s finance
committee.
The city, which was facing a multibillion-dollar budget deficit before it made the cuts, is
uncertain about its fate in the state budget, which is already nearly three months
late. Early proposals envisioned cutting aid to New York City
by more than $1 billion.
The slimmed-down city budget
passed Tuesday includes plans to close as many as 30 senior
centers, slash funding for pest control operations, shutter a
24-hour homeless drop-in center in Manhattan and eliminate school
nurses from schools with fewer than 300 students — or about 145
schools.
The city’s 300,000-person workforce will also shrink by 5,300
jobs — 1,100 layoffs and the rest by attrition.
To raise revenue, City Hall will hike parking rates from $2 per
hour to $2.50 at some meters in Manhattan, add a $300 application
fee for film and television shoots in the city, and raise fees for
the city clerk to perform record searches and marriage and domestic
partnership ceremonies.
There are no new taxes in the
plan.
During negotiations leading up to an agreement on the
budget last week, the City Council
did manage to restore some jobs and services that were in danger of
being eliminated.
The 20 fire engine companies that were slated to get cut ended
up being saved, adult literacy programs will be funded instead of
reduced and city swimming pools will stay open the entire season,
instead of closing two weeks early as proposed.
The budget also includes nearly
$50 million in pork projects obtained by councilmembers for their
districts.
They include a wide range of health and social services, along
with programs like children’s chess classes, senior yoga classes,
free summer concerts, Little Leagues, neighborhood patrols, and a
program that sends Big Apple Circus clowns to entertain sick
children in hospitals.
