NEW YORK CITY – The mayor of New York will be fired.
Much of it is a symbolic gesture amid the city’s looming budget crisis – and potential 22,000 layoffs – and doesn’t mean the city will be without a mayor. De Blasio has said he will show “everything is on the table” as the city seeks to close the deficit.
“It is with pain that I say that they and their families will lose a week’s pay, but this is something we have to do,” de Blasio said.
NEWS: Today @NYCMayor announced that the City will be granting a week’s leave to employees of the Mayor’s office. This action, in addition to the savings made on the adopted budget, will represent a 12% reduction in the town hall budget for fiscal year 21. NYC pic.twitter.com/jAycP9lCwR
– New York Mayor’s Council (@NYCMayorCounsel) September 16, 2020
The city lost an estimated $ 9 billion in revenue amid the coronavirus crisis, leaving officials scrambling to balance the budget.
De Blasio has repeatedly warned of potential layoffs from October 1 if a federal stimulus or state authorization for the city to take long-term borrowing does not materialize.
The federal stimulus seems unlikely and city and union officials are pressuring state lawmakers to borrow, de Blasio said. He also said that a property tax increase to balance the budget is squarely “off the table.”
“I will not increase the property tax,” he said Wednesday.
The holidays will take place from October to March. De Blasio said they would save about $ 1 million, or 12% of his office’s budget.
