By Ivan Pereira
The mayor and the City Council came to an agreement Monday on the city’s budget for the 2010 fiscal year, sparing cuts to libraries, firehouses and other core services that were threatened by a tighter budget.
The $59.4 billion budget was balanced through a new taxes and using surpluses from pervious years, according to mayor Michael Bloomberg.The budget will shrink by about $1.5 billion from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“Just like every family that is tightening their belt during these tough times, we are reducing city spending while still protecting the core services that so many New Yorkers rely on,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
The budget, which is to be formally voted on this week, allowed city libraries to stay open six days a week; saved 16 firehouses, including Engine 271 in Bushwick, which covers Ridgewood, from being closed; and preserved hundreds of jobs from city agencies, including the Administration for Children’s Services, according to Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).
“This agreement will balance the budget during one of the most tumultuous economic times in recent memory,” she said in a statement.
Borough President Helen Marshall and City Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) announced Tuesday that the new budget also saved seven ACS-run day-care centers in the borough: Queensbridge DCC in Long Island City; Better Community Life DCC and Malcolm X DCC in Corona’, Laurelton Springfield and the National Sorority Phi Delta ECEC in Jamaica; Omega Psi Phi Frat ECEC in Ozone Park; and Hammel Child Care Center in the Rockaways.
