Budget Analyst: Bloomberg Draining His 'Rainy-Day Fund'
By Azi PaybarahThe head of the Citizens Budget Commission, Carol Kellerman, draws a comparison between Michael Bloomberg's use of $2 billion set aside to pay for future health-care costs and draining a trust fund.
“He’s using it in the short term," she said of the fund, which is officially referred to as the budget stabilization account. "And no, I don’t think that’s what the money was set aside for."
Yesterday, city Budget Director Mark Page, under questioning from City Councilman John Liu, acknowledged the city planned to use the money in the budget stabilization to plug the city’s current budget gap.
The mayor’s argument, Kellerman said, is “basically, ‘It’s a rainy day, I need it.’" She went on, "It’s not the spirit in which it was intended, nor is it the basis for the accolades he’s gotten for doing this.”
Kellerman said although it's not surprising, this isn’t how the mayor initially said he’d use the money, and that might not reflect well on him.
‘He’s going to use up his trust fund,” said Kellerman.
Contributors
Steve Kornacki
Sarah Palin is a living, breathing Rorschach test. It doesn’t really matter what she says or does: her fans and critics will see whatever they ... >
Jason Horowitz
The new Board of Education that Michael Bloomberg assembled may be his own worst enemy in restoring mayoral control of the city's schools, critics ... >
Joe Conason
If Americans hope to discuss health care, climate change, green economics or public infrastructure with any degree of realism, then the time has ... >
Eliot Brown
There’s a common tactic that accompanies most development fights: packing a public hearing.
Usually this is carried out by a variety of ... >
RSS Feeds
Send tips to: azi.paybarah@politickerny.com or jimmy.vielkind@politickerny.com
AIM:
azipaybarah or jimmyvielkind
Top Tags
Most Active Stories
- Slideshow: Albany. Bananas.
- Bloomberg Defends His Campaign Spending
- Cyclists Go After John Liu Over Yassky's Bill
- Thompson's Campaign Strategy
- John Liu on His Problems With the Bike Bill
- Morning Read: Encouragement for Maloney, Frankness from Bloomberg
- Wojtaszek Readying Run for State Republican Chair
- Morning Read, Upstate: No Pay, No Holiday Weekend for Senators
- Elsewhere: 'All Pedro!'
- Weekend in Review: Albany Not in a Rush
- Malcolm Smith Has a New M.T.A. Plan; 'We Did Not Take a Count,' Says Spokesman
- Obama Sells Out a Friend From Connecticut
- Citywide Candidates Celebrate Year of the Ox
- Patrick Gaspard Writes Poems, Collects Comics, Kills for Obama
- Obama Redefines the Debate for New York's Israel Boosters
- Kirsten Gillibrand, Like Chuck Schumer With Connections
- The Many Rabbis of Sonia Sotomayor
- Michael Bloomberg and the Universal Retainer
- Be Like Cuomo: Call AIG's Bluff
- A Labor Ad for Ferreras
Quote of the Day
Syndicate
MIKE BLOOMBERG IS ANOTHER EMPTY SUIT ...
MIKE BLOOMBERG IS ANOTHER EMPTY SUIT ... he has governed by luck for many years --- now NYC will see that he has been 'all bun and no beef!'
What is it for?
With all due respect to Ms. Kellerman, what the heck is the money in this de facto "rainy day fund" for, if not for use during an economic meltdown?
The problem with a mandated balanced budget is that it goes against the basic Keynesian economic concept that has served for over 70 years -- that government should run a surplus in good times and a deficit in bad times. The idea is to put money aside when money is least needed and most available, and spend it when it is most needed and least available.
The Mayor's "budget stabilization account" is the best attempt to achieve this goal the city has seen under balanced budget mandates. It is surprising that Ms. Kellerman would evince such ignorance of these basic concepts; it leads me to wonder if she is being properly quoted.
Raiding the Retirees
"With all due respect to Ms. Kellerman, what the heck is the money in this de-facto "rainy day fund" for, if not for use during an economic meltdown?"
It is for retiree health care, a cost that is going to destroy public services and the city's economy. And it was created in response to accounting rules requiring that the states and localities disclose the cost of retiree health care, and how they promise to pay for it.
Keynesian economics? Why not slash taxes and dramatically increase spending by eliminating contributions tothe public employee pension funds and instead taking the money out? (Or borrowing against it). It isn't any different, aside from raiding the health care fund being easier to get away with.
A good reason to do it -- because, someday, we won't pay the money back, but will instead not pay our debts and pensions. This is just another cost they want to force younger generations to pay. It won't work. We won't pay, and we won't want our children to pay.
Post new comment