What budget crisis?
After crying poverty for months, Mayor Bloomberg authorized fat raises Friday for 6,692 of his managers and nonunion employees, worth $69 million over two years.
The raises, which will cover virtually all his City Hall staffers, but not himself, will match those given to District Council 37, the city's largest municipal union.
There will be a 4% raise retroactive to March 3 of last year, and a compounded 4% raise - or 4.16% - retroactive to March 3 of this year.
Those getting the raises will get lump-sum retroactive checks covering 16 months.
The seven deputy mayors will get raises ranging from $16,978 to $18,541, with the salary of First Deputy Commissioner Patricia Harris rising to $245,760.
Top commissioners will get a $23,247 raise, bringing their salaries to $189,700.
The raises only affect workers in mayoral agencies, not the Department of Education.
They also do not apply to the mayor and other elected officials, whose salaries are set by city law.
The mayor's official salary is $225,000, but the billionaire accepts only $1.
The raise was announced in a written statement by Bloomberg Press Secretary Stu Loeser, on a Friday afternoon, a time frequently reserved for news meant to slip under the radar.
Bloomberg has been warning of layoffs and other drastic action for months, citing plunging tax revenues and a shriveled up economy.
The budget is balanced through next June, with more than $2 billion in a health fund that could be tapped in a crisis. Multibillion-dollar gaps loom for the following years.
Loeser's statement stressed that the salaries of some unionized civil servants are higher than those of their supervisors, discouraging desire for career advancement.
A unionized police deputy chief - one-star - makes $180,749, while a managerial assistant chief - two-star - makes $166,106, Loeser said.
In the Fire Department, such salary differentials have left 20% of managerial staff chief positions unfilled.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/07/11/2009-07-11_mayor_bloomberg_quietly_approves_.html#ixzz0L8QvzNRN&D
Handschuh/News
Mayor Michael Bloomberg authorized authorized big raises Friday for 6,692 of his managers and nonunion employees.
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