The Release Of The Executive Budget Must Be Coming Up Soon

I was going to say, gosh, the city budget process seems quiet. But now it begins — with advocates fearing cuts and the mayor fearing a non-attriting workforce:

Mayor Bloomberg’s hopes of avoiding city-worker layoffs are being jeopardized by the record-low number of employees quitting or retiring, The Post has learned.

Because of the difficult economy, fewer employees are leaving the city’s workforce than in previous years, making it harder for Bloomberg to cut the budget by simply not replacing retired workers.

The city’s uniformed workers are on pace for a record-low attrition rate this year — 4.2 percent, according to the city’s Office of Management and Budget.

The typical attrition rate is between 7 percent and 8 percent.

The civilian workforce in the city had a steady 7.2 percent attrition rate in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, but is down to 5.7 percent for the present year, which ends June 30.

BYO Butter

But then again, there may be a corkage charge for that, too:

Recession-hit restaurants are helping themselves to your wallet by serving you an extra side of super sneaky charges.

The Post last week found city eateries subtly billing customers for things usually free — including bread and butter.

. . .

Unexpected costs found by The Post include . . . $3 for bread and another $2 for butter at Company, in Chelsea.

No cost was mentioned when bread was requested and delivered to a Post reporter last week — and a waiter refused to give a refund.

“It’s clearly on the menu, and we do have a famous baker,” restaurant spokeswoman Danielle Pagano said, referring to owner Jim Lahey.

The menu listing is in Italian.

Update, 4/28/09: This correction doesn’t change the fact that Company charges $2 for butter:

Due to an editing error, a story in yesterday’s Post misattributed a quote explaining the cost of bread and butter at Company, in Chelsea, to restaurant spokeswoman Danielle Pagano instead of to a waiter. Also, the menu listing is not in Italian.

But Monopoly Is So Much Fun, I’d Hate To Blow The Game

You would think that two adults could stop or at least disrupt a sexual assault. And you have to assume that those odds get even better if you have three adults at the scene:

A third MTA employee failed to come to the side of a woman being raped on a Queens subway platform, an internal memo revealed.

Location Scout: 21st Street/Van Alst Station.

Not Only Embarrassing But Considering His Smoking Initiatives A Little Counterproductive As Well

Now that’s embarrassing:

Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s crusade against cigarettes, city pension funds remain heavily invested in Big Tobacco — with more than 6 million shares, worth $103 million.

The $82.5 billion pension system owns 6,024,823 shares of Altria, formerly known as Philip Morris, according to an agenda for the company’s stockholders meeting next month.

P.S. Conservancy

If you A) encourage it with park conservancies like the kind you see at Central, Bryant, Madison and Prospect Parks and then B) cut funding and cram more kids into classrooms then you may find that your local school looks more like a public-private partnership than an example of equality of opportunity:

Nearly 200 teaching assistants and other school staffers get their paychecks from the city’s wealthiest PTAs in violation of Department of Education rules.

The PTAs that do the most rogue hiring are on the Upper East and Upper West sides of Manhattan.

Parents at Lower Lab School on Third Avenue pay for 43 extra staff members, the DOE revealed.

The parent groups contend their schools need the extra hands, and some principals encourage staff padding.