Bloomberg: State budget an 'outrage'

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that the tentative state budget agreement could leave the city in a fiscal hole that spells layoffs and other cuts if not changed.

"Proportionately, the cuts that are inflicted on New York City are an outrage," Bloomberg said Monday in response to the tentative state pact for a $132.5-billion budget.

Bloomberg warned that unless Albany gives the city the full $600 million he asked for last month to balance his budget, cuts to teachers and homeless programs are looming. City Hall has received proposals of more belt-tightening for city agencies, including a delay in hiring 540 police officers next month, city officials said.

Lack of state budget details left City Hall unsure about the impact. Monday, Bloomberg said he had heard city senior centers were saved but wasn't sure how. He said he was upset about state officials not addressing a pension supplement issue for the uniformed services, which he claims would save $200 million, and teacher seniority rules, which he said would do away with the last-in, first-out system in case of layoffs.

"We don't have a lot of extra money, and the [Independent Budget Office] and the city comptroller have all said the same thing," Bloomberg said.

But a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the budget deal restored "tens of millions in additional school aid, millions to keep senior centers open and millions to protect the homeless." The spokesman said the city had a $300-million Department of Education surplus, a remark City Hall labeled as "false."

Assemb. Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) and State Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport) told The Associated Press Monday that the bulk of $272 million in restored statewide education money would go to the city, including $60 million for schools for the deaf and blind and $30 million in city special education.

A Cuomo spokesman was unable to confirm those amounts, but Bloomberg has put the total at around $200 million.