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Thursday, October 9, 2008

About those budget cuts ...

As politicians from City Hall to Albany ready their budget scalpels -- or more likely, hatchets -- in response to the distrastrous collapse of the financial industry, it would do us all some good to remind ourselves what's likely to happen if we starve our neighborhoods of services. The Daily News' Errol Louis has a thought-provoking column on this today.

Where will we get the money to stave off draconian cuts tosocial and city services? Well, I obviously have a lot more reporting/research to do on this before I can claim to know what I'm talking about, but my first thought is: Is it really so crazy to talk about significant property tax increases? I mean, I pay ridiculously low property taxes on my house in Kingsbridge Heights -- not to mention the $400 rebate check Mayor Bloomberg sends me every year. What's more likely to send property owner scurrying out of the city? A tax increase or a rapid erosion in park maintenance sanitation services, and funding for schools and social programs? I'm just thinking out loud here, people. Just getting the conversation started. What are your ideas? How should our city and state leaders address this crisis?

I didn't live here durig the 1970s fiscal crisis and its disastrous aftermath, but I have a pretty good idea that we don't want to go back there.

I know a lot of elected officials and their staffs read this blog. So, let's get a dialogue going here. We don't expect you to have all the the answers. No one does. We just want to know what you're thinking, because after all, you're the ones in the position to help us get back up on our fiscal feet.

We look forward to hearing from you.

One final note: We'll re-post to the main blog any comments on this issue from elected officials or their staffs who post comments and identify themselves. And we'll also consider re-posting other reader comments if you likewise sign your first and last name.

1 comment:

  1. The rebate clearly needs to go to preserve services. Then again, will Bloomberg want to do that in a possible election year?

    ReplyDelete

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