If you run into any state workers today, be sure to congratulate them on the 4% raises they just got – despite the worst fiscal crisis to slam New York in generation.
They darn well ought to thank you back, because the rest of us are going to suffer for their good fortune.
That nice bump for 120,000 unionized employees will cost Albany $433 million it simply doesn’t have right now, given the gaping $9 billion hole in its budget.
To fatten paychecks for the few, Gov. Paterson and the Legislature will have to sock it to the many.
They’ll have cut that much deeper into schools and hospitals, shut down that many more bus and subway lines, close that many more parks and libraries.
From schoolkids to straphangers, every New Yorker will feel the pain…
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