Facing Surplus, Mayor Plans to Spread It Around
By MIKE McINTIRE
Published: May 6, 2005
New York City will end the fiscal year with a record $3.3 billion surplus fueled in part by taxes from a superheated real estate market. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed an election-year budget yesterday that would spread that wealth around by cutting taxes and spending millions more on reducing class sizes, increasing garbage pickups and other measures sure to please voters.
The surging revenues from taxes on real estate sales and refinancing of mortgages, expected to top $2 billion this year, helped the mayor propose a budget that for the first time approached $50 billion.
Saying the city "can afford a little bit of relaxation" from the more stringent spending plans he has put forward since taking office in 2002, Mr. Bloomberg moved to steal some thunder from his political rivals. He proposed a property tax rebate for a second straight year, and tax reductions for clothing purchases, small businesses and improvements to apartment buildings.
Fiscal analysts and some Democratic mayoral candidates noted the size of the budget plan - $49.7 billion for the 2006 fiscal year that begins on July 1, a 6 percent increase over last year's proposal. And they suggested that Mr. Bloomberg should use more of the tax windfall to close deficits, which are projected to be $4.5 billion in 2007 and $4.2 billion in 2008.
The mayor, however, insisted he is continuing to be fiscally prudent by cutting spending at most agencies, making conservative forecasts of tax revenues and using surplus money to cover rising costs over which the city has little control, including employee pensions, Medicaid and interest on the city's debt....
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/nyregion/06fiscal.html
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