Bloomberg Reflects on City’s Economy

NEW YORK—Although the fiscal year 2012 budget is balanced, more difficulty lies ahead. New York City anticipates a budget gap of around $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2014.

Meanwhile, the fiscal year 2013 balanced budget took effect Sunday, July 1. Mayor Michael Bloomberg reiterated the progress of New York City’s recovery on his weekly radio address.

While some service positions were eliminated during budget cuts, Bloomberg said that New York is doing the best that it can during the recovery.

The private sector has made some ground, he said. The city has regained “more than 200 percent” of the private sector jobs lost during the recession, while the rest of the country has gotten back around 40 percent of private sector jobs, Bloomberg said.

The budget for this year is about $500 million more than last year—because of rising costs for services that the city had no control over, such as health care.

The city managed to balance the budget without major cuts to city services. Initially, cuts had been planned for out-of-school care, teacher aides, and fire stations, leading to any outcry from the Council.

The city said $2.4 billion in prior-year resources, and $1 billion from the Retiree Health Benefits Trust—a fund created with surplus funds in 2006 and 2007—had helped the Council avoid the cuts.

Revenues from the financial sector have declined, but a gradual increase in tax revenues from the local economy were forecast in fiscal year 2013.

This year’s budget also relied on almost $6 billion in savings generated by city agencies through 11 rounds of deficit closing actions since 2007. The city said it saved $1 billion as a result of these measures since last November.

“We started acting long before other cities and states did,” Bloomberg said.

A multimillion dollar settlement last month between ING Bank and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office also helped the city’s coffers. The Dutch bank had allegedly, on more than 20,000 occasions, transferred funds for Cuban and Iranian clients in violation of U.S. sanctions. The city said it received $150 million of the $169 million settlement.

The city also managed to bring in $70 million more than planned in fiscal year 2012 in permits, licenses and fees.

Bloomberg said he hopes his work for the city will be remembered positively, referencing Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who was New York mayor from 1934 to 1945. LaGuardia is said to be one of the greatest mayors in American history, ranking first in the book “The American Mayor, The Best and the Worst Big-City Leaders,” by Melvin G Holli.

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