Mayor Bloomberg, budget office pull fast one on five borough presidents with midnight cash raid

Erin Einhorn and Adam Lisberg New York Daily News 07/14/2010 17:03

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is outraged by Mayor Bloomberg's pillaging of bank account without any notification.

New York's five borough presidents are furious Mayor Bloomberg yanked almost $1 million from their bank accounts through a little-known rule.

They say no one warned them Bloomberg's budget office would reclaim 4% of their budgets, even after the City Council gave them money to restore the mayor's previous cuts.

"The budget director is running amok, and midnight raids on our bank accounts are not responsible government," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, whose office now has to plug a $200,000 hole.

The Council gave $6.7 million to bolster the beeps' payrolls during budget talks that finished last month.

The Office of Management and Budget then reclaimed $979,223 to cover health costs and other fringe benefits - listed in a budget document released a day after the Council voted on it.

"It is just outrageous that OMB would in the middle of the night...go ahead and slash our budget," said Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz's chief of staff Carlo Scissura.

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