By DAVID SEIFMAN
June 24, 2008
Mayor Bloomberg is pushing to increase property taxes as soon as possible, City Council leaders said yesterday.
"They made it very clear the mayor wants to raise the property tax now so he doesn't have to do it in his walk [final] year," said Councilman Lew Fidler (D-Brooklyn), who stormed into the City Hall press room from a budget session to decry the move.
David Weprin (D-Queens), the council's finance chairman, said talks with the administration over the $60 billion budget were progressing, but slowly.
By law, the budget has to be adopted by July 1. Weprin said the mayor is concerned it may be more difficult to raise taxes in 2009, an election year.
At stake is last year's 7 percent property-tax cut, which will cost the city $1.2 billion in fiscal 2009.
Bloomberg holds most of the budget cards, since the council needs his help to restore cuts to education, senior services, libraries and other programs.
