I just got through a quick read of New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer's latest budget report which is called Comments on New York City's Fiscal Year 2017 Adopted Budget. I wanted to see what the 2016 end of the year NYC surplus was but it seems to have magically transformed into a "$4 billion prepayment at the end of FY (Fiscal Year) 2016." Is that another term for surplus?
Could the city have spared a billion or two so educators would not have to wait until 2020 to get fully paid for work we did from 2009-2011? I think so.
Here is part of a section called Budget Cushion:
The $3.994 billion prepayment together with the $500 million deposit to the
RHBT and the $1.5 billion in the FY 2017 General and Capital Stabilization Reserve
increases the City’s budget cushion at the start of the FY 2017 to $9.4 billion. The
cushion is $900 million more than at this point last fiscal year. This is the third
consecutive year in which the City has added to the cushion.
The Comptroller then proceeds to say that the cushion is not large enough. Stringer seems to be taking a cautiously pessimistic view of the economy. It is interesting to note that I cannot find anything in the report projecting any worry about huge increases in the city's labor costs through 2020. The thought of unions getting any kind of sizable salary hikes isn't even on the city's radar.
Neither the Mayor or Comptroller ever seem to thank city workers for being so good to them.
It is almost a guarantee that there will be hard times for the city when municipal labor contracts expire, particularly ours in 2018. At that time expect the UFT President to once again declare that the city's cupboard is bare.
Didn't the stock market indexes all hit record highs yesterday? The depression is coming.
ReplyDeleteBlame assholes like UFT Rep Jason Goldberg who gets paid $140K per year to trick his staff into voting for this garbage, saying the city is broke, we get all our money, etc...
ReplyDeleteFlat broke lying on that budget cushion. Where is the Unity guy today?
ReplyDeleteUnity reps came to our building and convinced all the newbie teaches that the city was broke during the last contract negotiations. I said that we should still vote no and wait it out. They all wanted the $1,000 signing "bonus". One year later these young teachers finally realized that the UFT fooled them big time.
ReplyDeleteJames keep applying the pressure on the union about this awful contract with deferred raises and deferred lump sum payments. We should start a petition with our goal of getting thousands of union members to sign. This would wake up them at 52 Broadway that we can read between the lines.
ReplyDeleteI just wish Meathead Mike wasn't so quick to oblige when his boss DeBlasio told him to bend over and get ready to be shafted. We pay good money for this representation?
ReplyDeleteMulgrew didn't get shafted. He laughs at all of us and collects quite a big salary to do so.
ReplyDeleteHis DOE salary and UFT compensation must be enormous.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the Unity double pensions.
ReplyDeleteBut plenty of money for all the freebies...For lowlifes.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying our union president was disingenuous about the city's financial position? Did he lie to us about going to the back of the line when we were already at the back of the line for years being TWO contracts behind? Did our union president lie when he said that retroactive pay was not a god given right when there is case law that supports retroactive pay?
ReplyDeleteYes, Mulgrew lied, fair contract denied.
DeleteUnfortunately this will not change anything and we will have to wait four more years to be whole with the other municipal unions.
ReplyDeleteThe UFT went out of its bloated corrupt way to push that "city is broke" propaganda. My own union that I will pay dues to for the rest of my life (retired 5 years) screwed tens of thousands of teachers. Our profession is 75% female, which is my narrative. Unity creep Bob Cohen once atracked me on FB for stating this view, so I had to block him. You didn't see cops and firemen being asked to delay raises beyond the life of a contract!! That's just a "con"!!
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