NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City has issued fewer parking tickets each year since fiscal 2003, and this year likely will continue the “long-term downward trend,” a fiscal watchdog said in a report released on Thursday.

Revenue from this unpopular fine is expected to slide nearly 4 percent to $580 million, according to the report by the New York State Financial Control Board.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City should require its retired public employees to pay for Medicare Part B premiums — the way all but four states do — instead of fully reimbursing them, according to a report released on Wednesday by a fiscal watchdog group.

New York City, like many of its metropolitan brethren, switches its retirees to the federal Medicare program from the city’s plans when they qualify at age 65.

NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) – New York City dwellers, by
a majority of 49 percent to 35 percent, said they preferred
that the city’s budget be balanced with tax increases instead
of service reductions, a new poll said on Friday.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political independent, opposes
proposals to extend the income-tax surcharge on millionaires
to help close a nearly $5 billion deficit.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rising fuel costs could further strain the budgets of deficit-laden U.S. states, cities and mass transit systems, raising the risk of more municipal spending cuts that could harm economic recovery.

The impact of higher fuel costs rests on what precautions municipalities have taken and whether higher energy prices put a brake on the U.S. economy.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City wants to hire investment banks to improve the way assets are managed — from parking meters to buildings — but the mayor on Friday flatly rejected selling any of these valuable properties.

“We are not going to sell assets in return for money we spend balancing our budget,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his weekly Friday WOR radio show said: Later, he said: “It’s a short-term fix that leaves you much worse off down the road.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street paid out $20.8 billion in cash bonuses in 2010, the fifth-highest amount on record, though the average payout fell 9 percent from a year earlier as financial reform drove banks to offer higher base salaries and defer more compensation.

The average cash bonus in 2010 was $128,530, according to the report released on Wednesday by New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The report estimates bonuses paid to securities industry employees who work in New York City.

NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled a budget plan for fiscal year
2012 that calls for firing some 4,500 teachers and reducing the
capital spending plan by 10 percent over the next decade.

Bloomberg blamed reductions in aid from the state of New
York and the U.S. government for painful cuts that have already
provoked a clash with school teachers and are certain to draw
opposition from other public sector unions.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In New York state’s debate over public pension reform, the only retirees more unpopular than the double-dippers are the convicted criminals.

As state and local governments consider how to reduce the billions of dollars they will owe to retirees in future, New York is scrutinizing those who “double-dip” — retiring early from one job in the public sector and hopping to another. Such workers collect a pension and a salary, and may even eventually be eligible for a second separate pension.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City will have to lay off more than 4,000 public school teachers even though its revenue has leaped about $2 billion since forecasts made last November, a mayoral aide said on Wednesday.

New York City has around 75,000 teachers but the headcount must be reduced because Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to cut state aid by $2.1 billion, the aide said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday cut New Jersey’s bond rating a notch due to an unfunded pension shortfall and high debt, turning up the heat on the state’s governor who prides himself for fiscal conservatism.

The ratings agency downgraded New Jersey from AA to AA-minus two weeks before Governor Chris Christie proposes his own fix for the state’s shaky finances, including a budget shortfall that New Jersey’s Office of Legislative Services estimates at $10.5 billion.