The Mark Of A Good Manager Is, In Tough Times, The Ability To Do More With Less

And gouge people with parking tickets in order to balance the budget:

Documents released last week as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s new $59.4 billion budget show that the Finance Department is projecting a $93 million increase in parking-summons revenue over the $593 million expected to come in this fiscal year.

That would be the biggest jump since 2004, when collections soared a staggering $144 million over 2003. It also would be the most money ever taken in. The previous high was $623 million in 2008.

The New Economy

Son, perhaps you’ve never thought about a lucrative career as a city marshal:

A lucky group of city marshals earned a record $43 million last year by swooping in to collect debts for individuals, the city and big corporations like AT&T and Con Edison, routinely towing cars, evicting tenants and collecting court judgments.

There were 46 marshals in 2008, and cashing in on financial catastrophe has made 16 of them millionaires.

They pocket 5 percent of every debt they collect, and pay only minor fees for the privilege. Their 2008 take was $1 million more than the year before, and almost $5 million more than in 2006.

Forecast For FY2010: More Killer Trees

To paraphrase Denzel Washington in Training Day, First you plant them, then you prune them:

The doomsday budget Mayor Bloomberg unveiled Friday calls for pruning trees less frequently — one of many belt-tightening measures planned for the 2010 fiscal year.

While the trimmed-down trimmings will save $1 million, the city has also scheduled a massive greening of streets and parks. According to its capital plan, more than $250 million is earmarked to plant new trees over the next 10 years.

Guess I’ll Have To Start Returning All My Beer Cans In Those Blue New York Times Home Delivery Bags From Now On

Plastic bags!

Questions:

• Excluding uniformed personnel, there are 185,908 City employees, 10,000 of which you expect to leave through attrition, either to retire or work for Goldman Sachs or whatever. Will 5.4 percent of the workforce really do this in a down economy? And if so, when — by June 30, 2009? And then will there be wider layoffs?
• Comment on this point, please: “Aren’t taxes worth it, because of the valuable and equitably distributed services they pay for? No, it is clear to all. Those taxes aren’t going to services, they are going to privileges, and for burdens from the past shifted to the present and future by Generation Greed. In the end we will pay more and more and get next to nothing. Want proof? New York City’s personal service budget is proposed to rise from $34.7 billion to $36 billion, and in exchange services will be cut and the infrastructure will degrade.”
• Please square the concept of eliminating the clothing tax exemption within the city with the state’s reluctance to eliminate the same tax exemption in its executive budget
• How exactly will you save $200 million in FY 2010 with a “Tier V” pension when you’re presumably not hiring new employees?

More later . . .

The Best Day To Bury Bad News . . .

. . . is Friday.