Bloomberg plan: Cut 6,000 teaching jobs

Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a good news-bad news budget Thursday that called for cutting more than 6,000 teaching jobs and 20 fire companies, but didn't raise taxes and spared most city agencies, including the police, from job losses.

Previous belt tightening and a reviving economy have helped the city weather the recession, Bloomberg said. But he stressed the city still needs $600 million to close an expected budget gap for the 2012 fiscal year, which begins July 1. He plans to get that money from Albany through a number of measures, including a reform of a "variable supplement fund," which now gives retired cops and firefighters up to $12,500 a year.

Changing that payment could save $200 million a year, as would Albany's restoration of about $200 million in revenue sharing that would be eliminated in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's proposed budget, Bloomberg said. City Hall is also asking Albany to restore $200 million in state education aid.

"If the state does not come through, layoffs and service cuts will be more severe," Bloomberg warned. "We can't make up for everything. City taxpayers just don't have that money."

Bloomberg's push to trim the variable supplement, an annual lump-sum payment that has grown over 20-years from $500 to just over $12,000, got a tough response from Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.The supplement was "forged in good faith and is a legally binding agreement that the mayor cannot change without the approval and support of the affected unions," Lynch said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said some officers might have to be used to fill the jobs being vacated by civilians.