DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

City’s Budget Is Battered In the Aftermath of Attack Officials May Seek to Double Aid to $40 Billion

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER The attack on the World Trade problems, but there are added prob­ Center has doubled the city’s pro­ lems now. Outside of the immediate jected budget gap to roughly $4 bil­ losses, the mayor has to deal with lion, forcing the Giuliani administra­ restoring the psychological sense of tion to order all agencies to curtail security, which has implications for spending. keeping business here. Housing plans Some city and state officials are will have to be rethought. I think now calculating that just to clear the everything will be on the table now.” damage, they will ask the federal The gap for the 2003 fiscal year, government for $40 billion or more, which begins in July, was already twice the amount already approved. expected to be between $2 billion and In addition, they would also like fed­ $2.5 billion because of a softening eral help to stem losses in tax reve­ economy, bloating debt load and im­ nues caused by the attacks. pending labor negotiations. Now that Many of the expenses related to is likely to grow to $4 billion, analysts the cleanup, like the overtime for and city officials predicted. firefighters and police officers and Estimates of the costs related to the removal of the wreckage, will the disaster are staggering: $5 bil­ likely be covered by the federal aid. lion to remove the debris, $14 billion But the concurrent sharp decline in to rebuild the area, $3 billion for revenue from thousands of fewer overtime for uniform workers and $1 tourists and the loss of businesses in billion to replace destroyed vehicles Lower Manhattan will cut deeply and equipment. Fire Department ac­ into the next mayor’s budget, almost cident response vehicles, for in­ certainly leading to abandonment of stance, are $400,000 each. many promises made along the cam­ How much money the city will get paign trail for things like housing from the federal government re­ and smaller class sizes. mains unclear, but some expenses To the veterans of the city’s fiscal will be picked up by the Federal crisis of the 197O’s and the severe Emergency Management Agency. cutbacks at the beginning of the last The city had already been prom­ decade that led to dirtier streets, ised part of $20 billion in new federal deteriorating schools and the exodus aid, but city officials have revised of many professionals to the suburbs, their estimated need to $40 billion, the economic forecast this time and the state’s calculations are shill­ threatens to undercut much of the ing even higher. New York City offi­ successes of the last several years. cials have already met twice wiih “We think this is going to be as bad Bush administration aides to discuss as the early 199O’s, if not worse,” the city’s financial needs, and they said Charles Brecher, research di­ are working now. along with the rector of the Citizens Budget Com­ state, to come up’ with a detailed mission, a civic research organiza­ estimate of the costs. Citj^^d stale tion. “We were already saying that a new mayor would have big budget

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