Mayor: Cut Budgets 7% More! Council: Tax Tourists 0.875% More!
Having previously asked city agency heads to come up with cuts totaling 2.5 percent of their budgets, Mayor Bloomberg is now asking them for 7 percent cuts by December 22, reports the Staten Island Advance. The Mayor told the agencies that tax receipts in November weren't what he'd hoped (maybe because corporations who overpaid are asking for their money back), so he needs then to squeeze tighter while he fights with the city council about the budget.
The council, meanwhile, is considering a bill that would add 0.875 percent to the current 5 percent city hotel tax. The Hotel Association of New York City says this will "devastate" their business. Christine Quinn supports the bill; the Mayor hasn't expressed an opinion yet. (The hotel tax in Washington, D.C. is 14.5 percent, and Philadelphia's is 8.2.)
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