By SALLY GOLDENBERG
Last updated: 7:25 am
June 27, 2008
Posted: 4:27 am
June 27, 2008
Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn shook hands last night on the most hotly debated budget of their tenures, with a host of social services taking a hit to restore classroom funding.
The $59.1 billion spending plan, one of the most austere of Bloomberg's tenure, fully restored his unpopular classroom cuts and maintained a 7 percent property-tax reduction and $400 homeowner rebate - but left many politicians and advocates dismayed.
All told, the council, which must vote on the budget by Tuesday, restored $412.5 million in cuts, with $129 million of that going into classrooms.
The budgets of senior services, cultural institutions and other programs were reduced.
The New York City Housing Authority was allocated only $18 million of the $30 million it requested.
"This is a question of setting priorities. You can't say 'all of the above.' I think those days are gone," Bloomberg said.
He cited Wall Street woes, soaring oil prices and looming deficits.
But his diplomatic approach did little for special-interest groups, with some advocates leaving City Hall in tears after learning of the cuts.
"We just lost a total of about $1 million for food and rent money, base costs, for senior centers," said Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy at the city;s Council of Senior Centers and Services.
"And food? How can you cut back food for seniors when food prices are increasing?"
Sackman echoed Brooklyn Councilman Lew Fidler's call for a rise in the hotel-occupancy tax, which Bloomberg and Quinn didn't institute.
"We had to make tough choices about cutting back spending to make sure that we would fulfill our core obligations to New Yorkers," said Quinn, standing with 18 of the 51 council members.
The council cut its discretionary funding by 39 percent, from $352 million last year to $232 million.
