In an effort to deal with deteriorating city finances, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed, among other things, to (1) cancel the scheduled payment of a $400 per residence property tax rebate, and (2) terminate, effective January 1, 2009, a seven per cent property tax reduction that was to expire at the end of June of next year.
Today, Councilmember David Yassky expressed his support for the Mayor’s efforts to “identify unnecessary spending” and “force the agencies to get more results for the dollars they are spending”, but said, “[i]t would be a mistake to vote now on a tax increase before every effort has been made ensure these are done and in the absence of a complete solution to the budget problem.”