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Newsline: February 2004
City & State Budgets Exclude Contract Talks
 In separate preliminary budget announcements in January, Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki each expressed positive economic outlooks, while sidestepping any mention of the needs of municipal and state employees. Instead, the mayor emphasized that the city’s 250,000 workers can expect that “all collective bargaining agreements between the city and its employees should be funded through increased productivity.”
Local 237 President Carl Haynes maintains that “productivity has its limits,” pointing out that since Jan. 1, 2003, the city has had a job freeze that reduced the head count of city workers by attrition. “People have had to work harder to make sure services are delivered,” says Haynes, adding that “there comes a time when limits have been met.” Recalling the belt-tightening unions agreed to in recent years, Haynes says, “We’re already three-and-a-half years behind. We’ve reached the limit and there is nothing else we can do.”
The governor promised no layoffs for state workers, but like the mayor, made no mention of lifting the statewide hiring freeze in effect since the onset of the fiscal crisis
three years ago.
State aid for education was the most controversial item on Gov. Pataki’s budget, which calls for expanding video lottery terminals at racetracks and other sites to generate about $325 million for the 2004/5 school year. Under the state Court of Appeals, the state must find a solution by July to its failed obligation to
schoolchildren in New York City.
Mayor Bloomberg openly criticized the plan, and was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “The city needs a guaranteed funding source for schools or it can’t make long-term construction and labor commitments.” Haynes said he was “in agreement with the mayor on this particular issue. Gambling is a very unpredictable item to fund education and labor.”
Black and Latino lawmakers were outraged at Gov. Pataki’s plan to fund city schools with gambling parlors. “This is taking from the poor to give to the poor,” said Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan), who was quoted in the Daily News.
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A Comeback of Sorts for City and State
Economic recovery and reduced budget deficits were hallmarks of both the city and state proposed budgets, which still need to go through the lengthy process of revisions and approvals by the City Council and the State Legislature.
For the city, Mayor Bloomberg, at midterm in his administration, proposed a $45.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2005, noting that the city expects to finish fiscal year 2004 in July with revenues exceeding expenses (a welcome change from the $6.5 billion deficit in 2003).
The city budget includes a $400 per household property tax rebate. This giveback, the Mayor said, thanks city homeowners, who helped ease the fiscal crisis by paying an 18.5 percent tax increase since 2002. The rebate will cost the city $250 million.
For the state, Gov. Pataki, in his third term, proposed a $99.8 billion budget, increasing state spending by a significant $1.5 billion. The state deficit narrowed to $5.1 billion from $11.5 billion last year. The governor plans to expand video lottery terminals at racetracks and other sites to boost education funds for the neediest city and state schools, and also called for New York State to take over local governments’ share of Medicaid costs for long-term care.
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