State lawmakers and fiscal watchdogs are trying to make sense of Mayor de Blasio’s math as the city seeks approval from Albany to borrow billions.
Days after delaying sending out pink slips to 22,000 city workers, Hizzoner argued Wednesday that his $5 billion borrowing request covers a baseline of $1 billion baked into both this year — and next year’s budget.
“The billion dollars for this fiscal year is what we need to stop the layoffs, but then a reminder: the next fiscal year starts July 1st with the same billion-dollar hole implicitly because that’s just part of the permanent budget,” de Blasio told reporters during a morning briefing.
The claim left some scratching their heads as they balked at the suggestion any part of the city spending plan, which is negotiated annually, is permanent and said the mayor has yet to utilize cost-cutting tools at his disposal.
Andrew Rein from the Citizens Budget Commission said the mayor was discussing $1 billion in recurring savings from negotiations with labor unions, but chided de Blasio for presenting the public a false choice by saying that the city either needs to borrow to fund operations or lay off 22,000 municipal employees.
“Neither currently is necessary and both have far-reaching negative impacts,” he said.
The CBC issued a report earlier in the day outlining nearly two dozen ways the city and labor unions could save $1 billion or more, including an aggressive hiring freeze, which would allow attrition to reduce the workforce rather than layoffs, consolidating individual welfare funds and reforming health insurance benefits.
De Blasio initially sought $7 billion in borrowing power to cover operating expenses such as trash collection and salaries for teachers and cops back in May as the coronavirus crisis wreaked havoc on city finances.
State lawmakers, who would have to approve any such plan, said the proposal lacked details and griped that the mayor failed to prove he was serious about tightening purse strings.
Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, which represents municipal workers in the city, said City Hall is still dragging its feet when it comes to convincing Albany politicos that the mayor is trying to find ways to save funds.
“We haven’t even begun the first step,” he said. “We would have had the answer now if he did the work and engaged us in June.”
Floyd said the union is now looking into potential cuts the city could make on consultant fees and other options.
Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Harlem), who is mounting a bid for city comptroller next year, said legislators are not taking the request lightly and have concerns about uncertainties such as who will be in the White House next year and whether the city will suffer a second wave of COVID-19.
“We need to see more details from the city, not less with regards to exactly what borrowing is needed for because it is not a small order to borrow against operating expenses,” he said. “That’s a very dangerous road to go down particularly in a pandemic where we don’t know where the end is.”
