In an effort to save $2 billion over the next year and a half, Mayor Mike Bloomberg ordered all city agencies to find major cuts in their operating expenses over the next two fiscal years.
“To achieve this Citywide goal, all agencies must submit plans to cut spending for the remainder of this fiscal year by an amount equal to 2% of your agency’s FY2012 budget, and 6% for FY2013,” said Office of Management and Budget Director Mark Page in a letter to all agency heads. “Each agency must submit proposals that achieve the full target, and explicitly identify agency priorities, and the impact of proposed reductions on City services.”
The letter goes on to call for a citywide hiring freeze, and marks the 11th round of budget cutting measures since 2007.
“We’re looking at extreme economic uncertainty and State and Federal governments that are likely to further cut funds they return to the City,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway in a statement. “We’ve preserved services essential to maintaining safety and quality of life to this point through prudent planning and a willingness to make the hard decisions, and we’ll do that again this year.”
The call however is likely to increase pressure on Mayor Bloomberg to raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers, something he has said should be avoided, and will also likely take the Haggerty Trial off of the front pages for another couple of days.
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