Bloomberg Warns NYC: Don't think Detroit couldn't happen here

New York City could face the same dire fiscal situation as Detroit unless the next mayor gets realistic with municipal unions and reins in soaring pension and health-care costs, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday. 

“Avoiding the hard choices is how Detroit went bankrupt,” the mayor declared in a speech in Brooklyn. 

With less than five months left in his term, Bloomberg hailed the city’s diverse revenue base while cautioning that the contracts the next mayor signs with municipal unions could determine the city’s fate for the near future. 

The mayor reminded his audience that Chicago laid off 2,100 teachers and school employees last month, in large part because of soaring pension costs. 

“Chicago is far from alone. Cities across the country all face the prospect of pension costs swallowing more and more of their budget, and New York is no exception,” the mayor said.

“Anyone who thinks it can’t happen here needs only to look at the late 1970s when the city laid off more than 10,000 teachers and thousands of police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, hospital workers and other city employees.” 

Bloomberg went on to slam the health-care freebies city workers enjoy and even praised his sometimes-foe, Gov. Cuomo, for demanding and winning concessions from state workers. 

“About 95 percent of our employees and retirees contribute nothing — not even a dollar — to their basic health-care premiums. Compare that to state government, where more than 90 percent of workers contribute to their premiums,” the mayor said.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here.
Please follow us on Twitter here.