NEW YORK, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced a $43.4 billion budget Friday that counts on state and federal aid to help fill in a $4 billion shortfall.
Bloomberg proposes service cuts and tax hikes that would make up about half of the $4 billion. Balancing the budget also depends on reducing healthcare costs for city employees, getting them to pay 10 percent of their medical expenses and getting help from Albany and Washington, the New York Daily News reported.
The mayor plans to eliminate almost 23,000 jobs, more than 15,000 through layoffs. Among the cuts would be 1,000 police officers and 14,000 teachers and aides.
Bloomberg said the city's situation is "serious, but I think it is manageable."
New York has been hit hard by the financial crisis. Bloomberg's budget assumes a 7.2 percent increase in property tax revenue and a drop of 13.2 percent in income, sales and real estate transfer taxes -- which all depend on the economy.
"Nobody prepared for the severity of the downturn that we have been experiencing," Bloomberg said. "Nobody's ever seen a boom like this and nobody's ever seen a decline like this."
