Mayor Bloomberg’s 2010 Executive Budget proposal is being portrayed as “grim” — but while the media and politicians focus on proposed spending reductions, a key measure of spending is actually rising at over twice the inflation rate.
The “City Funds” expense budget (excluding federal categorical aid, but including some temporary stimulus funds from Washington) will rise by 3.5 percent in fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, according to the Mayor’s Budget Message. The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget forecasts the Consumer Price Index will increase 1.6 percent in calendar year 2010.
The total city funds spending increase over the next four city fiscal years is projected by the mayor at $8.2 billion, or 19 percent, compared to total inflation of about 9 percent and personal income growth of 12.4 percent in calendar years 2009-2013. Seventy percent of the projected spending is attributed to what the mayor calls “uncontrollable” expenses, including pensions and fringe benefits — although these categories of employee compensation are shaped in part by generous collective bargaining deals the mayor agreed to as recently as last fall.
All this assumes that municipal unions agree to health insurance concessions and pension reforms sought by the mayor, which he says will save $400 million next year and up to $818 million by 2013. Without union concessions, the annual city funds spending increase in 2010 will be more like 4.5 percent, rising to 6.4 percent in 2011.
The following chart compares the spending trend with OMB’s projected inflation and personal income growth for the fiscal plan period. The numbers come from pages 8 and 22, respectively, of the Mayor’s Budget Message.
You may also like
Two Dozen School Districts Are Returning to the Polls for Budget Revotes
Voters in 24 New York school districts return to the polls on Tuesday for school budget revotes. Last month, voters in 96 percent of school districts outside New York City conducting votes approved their school budgets for the upcoming year.
The 683 sc Read More
New York’s Proposed ‘MCO Tax’ Would Generate a Fraction of What Lawmakers Expected
The Hochul administration's proposed "MCO tax" would generate far less than the $4 billion in extra federal aid anticipated by state lawmakers when they approved the concept this spring, according to documents obtained by t Read More
How 1199 Earns its Reputation as Albany’s No. 1 Labor Power Broker
For the fourth time in six years, the president of New York's largest health-care union, George Gresham of 1199SEIU, has won the top spot on the "Labor Power 100" list from City &am Read More
New York Runs Away from the Pack on Medicaid Spending
New York's per capita Medicaid spending jumped 14 percent in 2023, moving it further ahead of the rest of the country, recently released nationwide data show.
In the federal fiscal year that ended last September, New York spent $94.6 billion Read More
How a Medicaid ‘Cut’ Could Lead to More Unionization of Home Care Aides
A money-saving maneuver in the newly enacted Medicaid budget could end up increasing costs in the long term – by paving the way for more unionization of the state's burgeoning home health workforce.
Read More
Hochul’s ‘Straight Talk’ on Medicaid Isn’t Straight Enough
Arguably the biggest Medicaid news in Governor Hochul's budget presentation was about the current fiscal year, not the next one: The state-run health plan is running substantially over budget.
Read More
New York’s Medicaid Spending Is Running Billions Over Budget
New York's Medicaid program ran billions of dollars over budget during the first half of the fiscal year, adding to signs of a brewing fiscal crisis in Albany.
According to the fro Read More
Pols Craft More Handouts for Sinking Construction Unions
New York’s construction unions, facing a decades-long decline, are employing a time-honored tactic: getting state government to stop people from competing with them. Read More