Bloomberg: High cop salaries hurt Nassau

Mayor Michael Bloomberg will tell anyone who will listen that City Hall doesn't print money and that he can't spend big, particularly for pensions and labor costs.

To make the point he took a swipe Thursday at the finances of Nassau County. The county, he said, attracted cops because of higher starting salaries than the NYPD. That came with a price, Bloomberg said during a discussion of the city budget.

"Nassau County is financially broke, you can't do that, surprise, surprise," quipped Bloomberg, who quickly absolved current County Executive Edward Mangano of responsibility.

Through a spokesman, Mangano declined to comment.

For years, the starting salary of police officers in Nassau County compared with the NYPD were a big draw for recruits.

"And you see counties like Nassau which used to say, 'Oh, we're going to hire away all your cops because we pay more.' Well number one, we paid a little more in the city, we've increased our compensation for police officers," Bloomberg said.

The mayor then put in a little jab at the precincts east of the city. "Number two, this is the world's greatest police department. If you want to be a cop, you want to be a New York City cop if you're really dedicated, and I think that's one of [the] things that keeps people here," he said.

Nassau's generosity, on the other hand, was bound to end in a financial mess, Bloomberg said.

"Nobody thought it was going to end in any other way," Bloomberg said. "Well, unfortunately they have a new county exec and he's - in Nassau County - and he's dealing with - and in all fairness to him, he didn't create the problem. But he's got to deal with it."

NYPD recruits who earned $25,000 in 2006, now start on $41,975 base pay a year and rise to $76,000 after 5 1/2 years, a union spokesman said. Cops in Nassau start at $34,000, quickly rising to $45,000 and then $89,468 after six years, according to the county police department website.