By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — To avoid slashing vital services like the FDNY and NYPD, the City Council called for an end to across-the-board cuts proposed in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2011.
During a budget presentation on Thursday, the Council agreed that significant budget cuts are necessary — even though the Council approved a 4.6 percent increase to its own budget last month — but asked that the city reconsider making sweeping budget cuts that affect all agencies equally.
"We urge the Administration to consider carefully whether, in its Executive Budget, some agencies or programs should be spared additional cuts, and other programs perhaps slated for elimination," the Council said in a statement.
“As we enter budget negotiations, we do so with the knowledge that any budgetary decision will carry with it very real consequences for New Yorkers," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
Some of those consequences include the closure of 20 FDNY firehouses, decreasing the amount of uniformed NYPD officers, laying off teachers and cutting services for seniors.
Of particular concern to the City Council was the impact of the budget on public safety.
“Because the state has yet to fulfill their responsibility to deliver a fair, balanced budget, the mayor’s preliminary budget could mean major cuts to our police officers, reversing the gains we’ve made in public safety,” said Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., chair of the Council’s Finance Committee.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on Tuesday pointed to budget cuts as a potential reason for the city's increased murder rate this year.
"We have lost 6,000 police officers since fiscal year 2001," Kelly said. "Under the projected budget that we have been given, we will lose another 2,000 police officers, going down to a level we haven’t seen since 1990."
The Council's analysis did not take into account the effects of the state's budget on the city, which was due April 1 and is still being negotiated.
