Bloomberg, big spender
[note the austerity of the Dinkins years - by this pure spending
measure, the same as Rudy]
New York Times - September 17, 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/nyregion/17bloomberg.html
Under Bloomberg, Budget and Revenues Swell By DIANE CARDWELL
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has promoted himself as a model of fiscal
restraint, issuing dire warnings about the slowing economy, recently
asking agencies to limit hiring, and even listing “fiscal
responsibility” as an interest on his MySpace page.
At the same time, a review of the city’s budget since 1980 shows that
Mr. Bloomberg has been presiding over one of the greatest expansions
of city government since the John V. Lindsay administration, fueled
by an extraordinary surge in real estate revenues, both from higher
property taxes and transfer taxes from sales.
Since Mr. Bloomberg took office in 2002, the city budget, adjusted
for inflation, has swelled faster than it has under any other mayor
during the last 27 years, increasing by 23 percent, to $60 billion.
By contrast, spending rose 8 percent during Mayor Rudolph W.
Giuliani’s eight years, and 4 percent under Mayor David N. Dinkins,
who served one four-year term. Mr. Bloomberg’s spending also outpaced
that of Mayor Edward I. Koch, who increased the budget by 19 percent
over his last two terms.
[…]
When Mr. Bloomberg took office, he inherited a budget punch-drunk
from the aftereffects of 9/11 on an already slowing economy, facing a
$5 billion deficit in what was then, in 2002 dollars, a $41 billion
budget, including $14 billion from Albany and Washington. The mayor
spent his first months in office looking for ways to reduce spending
through cutting staff and modestly trimming services, but he
increased revenue through borrowing and eventually raising taxes,
fines and fees.
“He very deliberately, early on, made the choice that rather than
really jamming down services, he was going to hold the service level
and raise taxes,” said Mark Page, director of the Office of
Management and Budget. Mr. Bloomberg has also personally contributed
tens of millions of dollars to the city, forgoing his salary, paying
his own travel expenses, donating to social service and cultural
groups whose city grants he trimmed, and supporting projects and
experimental programs.
Since then, Mr. Page added, the growth in population and the economy
has led to “a major increase in revenue that has enabled us to cut
taxes and spend more. Smaller class sizes, dividing up large schools,
maintaining parks, cleaning streets, what-have-you are all things
that people like and they all cost money.”
[…]