Mayor Bill de Blasio holds at a press briefing at City Hall Wednesday (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
Sept. 16, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
Mayor Bill de Blasio and his entire office staff will take one week of unpaid leave in order to help tackle the city’s fiscal crisis amid the coronavirus shutdown.
The mayor said that the mandatory furloughs – which will affect nearly 500 employees – will save the city nearly $1 million.
The city is estimated to lose around $9 billion in tax revenue because of the coronavirus shutdown and the furloughs will apply to everyone in the mayor’s administration including the office of his wife Chirlane McCray. De Blasio said he will work without pay during his time off.
“This is a painful step, but it shows just how committed we are to responsible budgeting and leading the city through these challenging times,” de Blasio said at a press briefing Wednesday.
“It was not a decision I made lightly,” he added. “It is the right thing to do at this moment in history.”
Employees will have to take a week of unpaid leave during a six-month period beginning in October, de Blasio said, as he tries to balance the city’s books.
The mayor has pleaded for a bailout from the federal government to help the city get through the crisis but without success. He has a strained relationship with President Donald Trump.
De Blasio is also trying to get the state to give it the authority to borrow money to cover the shortfall.
The mayor has warned that he may lay off 22,000 municipal employees if the city doesn’t get either federal assistance or the state doesn’t give him emergency authority to borrow $5 billion to pay for operating expenses.
“We need our partners in the state government to give New York City long term borrowing authority,” de Blasio said.
“We have to keep making tough choices to move the city forward, to keep our budget balanced,” he said.
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6 Comments
As a registered Democrat, albeit a swing voter based on who qualifies better for the job, I’d prefer DiBlasio resign so we can elect someone who can make this city safer and better the way Giuliani did, even though Rudy is a kook today.
MAYOR DE BLASIO SHOULD GIVE UP A WEEKS SALARY EVERY MONTH WHAT ARE U DOIN FOR THE HOMELESS IN ELMHURST ALSO WHERES THE MONEY THATS BEEN MISSING FROM UR WIFE O WE DONT JNOW WHERE IT WENT FIND IT A COUPLE OF MILLION DOLLARSHOMELESS STILL RIDING THE E TRAIN AT NIGHT IT STINKS SOME CITY BUSES ARE STILL FILTY 58 60 59 32 20 104 34 BUSES
Stop wasting tax payers money on painting BLM, start with that Mayor Bill DeBlasio.
Bill DeBlasio should have been coming up with a plan to save NYC , instead he was too busy painting BLM all over the city.
The increase of crime, the budget crisis, the reopening of schools, the homeless situation , NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio is incompetent. He should be fined and taken out of office for dereliction of duty.
You can’t blame him for everything, the communities should get together and stop the crimes, help the homeless & stop relying on unemployment and find any honest job, dishwasher, delivery, anything to pay the bills. Stop blaming other people for your problems. Not all white people are racist just as not all black people are criminals. I’m black and I was born in this country not in Africa, I don’t wave a African flag at the march. Mayor DeBlasio is doing what he can .