(NYC) As Fiscal Cloud Lifts, Mayor Offers a Budget Free of Tax Increases or Broad Layoffs [View all]

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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, seeking to stabilize New York City’s finances after years of budget crunches and economic woes, proposed on Thursday a spending plan that was as routine and as free of drama as any in recent memory, with no tax increases or layoffs of teachers, police officers or firefighters.

Even the most contentious elements of Mr. Bloomberg’s proposed budget — his plans to close 20 fire companies and slash millions of dollars in funding for libraries and after-school programs — had a veneer of the familiar, given that he had proposed similar cuts last year.

The budget he proposed — $68.7 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1 — is about 2 percent higher than the budget for the current year. The budget is balanced, as is required by law.

“No tax increase, no layoffs of teachers or uniformed workers and no walking away from our long-term investments,” Mr. Bloomberg said during a budget briefing at City Hall. The most colorful element of his proposal was his blue V-neck sweater — a nod, he said, to the Super Bowl-bound Giants.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/nyregion/mayor-bloombergs-budget-avoids-tax-rises-or-broad-layoffs.html