10,000 Jobs Cut? Bloomberg Slashes City Budget

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a series of drastic cost-cutting measures Thursday morning, slashing the budget of every city agency, the effects of which could be deeply felt in communities like Prospect Heights.

The cuts include eliminations of city jobs in the form of layoffs, reductions in library and education funding and more. They're all in the interest of closing a budget with a gap of more than $3 billion for Fiscal Year 2012.

Bloomberg justified the cuts, saying the city's workforce had grown too large to sustain without the benefit of federal funding that is slated to end this year.

"We face a significant challenge for next year, as federal stimulus dollars run dry and the city still suffers from the impacts of the national economic downturn," Bloomberg said. "We began working to attack next year's deficit immediately after passing this year's balanced budget, and there is still more work to do. More spending reductions are going to be necessary, and we have to continue to reduce the number of employees we have by not filling positions — we simply cannot afford the size of our current workforce."

"It's disheartening to see all these cuts," said Ede Fox, a member of and one of the organizer of . "As always, the budren is going to lay with those who have the least in the city."

The most deeply felt cuts are likely to be those in education, where the city is slashing $350 million from the budget. That loss will reduce the number of jobs in the department by more than 6,000.

In addition, library funding will be reduced by $20 million, resulting in the likely closure of libraries for one additional day per week citywide.

"Clearly the largest library in Brooklyn will be affected," said 57th Assembly District Leader Olanike Alabi, referring to the . " will be affected. Prospect Heights is affected like everyone else."

The police department will lose 350 civilian jobs and stretch their vehicle budget further, while the staff at 20 firehouses across the city will be redeployed overnight, possibly resulting in the closure of some firehouses.

All told, Bloomberg said, the city will eliminate more than 10,000 jobs in the next two years.

"I've never been a fan of cutting social service programs," said Alabi, "but I also recognize that we live in a time where cuts have to be made. Difficult choices have to be made."