Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday the city’s finances and tax collections seemed to be holding steady and were coming in as projected. But he was concerned about the ongoing tumult in Albany and Washington, and the economy as a whole, making things worse.
“The chaos in the markets, the chaos in Europe, the lack of action in Washington is all very worrisome,’’ Bloomberg said.
He also said he hopes Gov. Cuomo delivers pension reform next year to help the city rein in costs.
“The governor has said his No. 1 priority was pension-fund relief. If he can get that done, that would be a big thing,” Bloomberg said on his WOR radio show.
Hizzoner also said he expected the city to get more state education aid next year. He noted that the governor said that state tax revenues are lower than projected.
“That’s going to make it harder for us to get our fair share . . . I think we were treated unfairly last time,” Bloomberg said.
“We did get cut 100 percent in revenue sharing last time, and every other county got cut 3 percent. We got cut $800 million in education money, which we had to make up. We just don’t have the money to make up those kinds of things anymore.”
Meanwhile pension relief is far from certain.
State and city workers have worked with frozen wages, and the unions will likely resist having to contribute more toward their pension benefits.
