Cato Institute Looks at Giuliani's Fiscal Record As Mayor

Cato ^ | 3/5/07

[areafiftyone]

Giuliani

A new poll shows that Rudy Giuliani has pulled into the frontrunner position for the Republican nomination for President. Thus, it is worth looking at his fiscal performance as New York City Mayor (1994 through 2001).

A good source of data are the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports issued by the city’s comptroller. See the CAFR for fiscal 2002, which contains 10 years of historical data.

Total NYC general fund expenditures.

1994: $31.3 billion

2001: $40.2 billion

representing a 3.6 percent average growth rate.

NYC Outstanding General Obligation Bonds.

1994: $22.9 billion

2001: $26.8 billion

representing a 2.3 percent average growth rate.

The data suggest that Giuliani exerted reasonable fiscal control, particularly in comparison to prior NYC mayors, or President Bush. For example, NYC debt more than doubled in the five years prior to Giuliani entering office. But more analysis needs to be done.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Like you and the posts you had pulled for making and/or copying threats?

[trisham]

I have this feeling about Donna Hanover

************

Well, that's what counts. Feelings.

[editor-surveyor]

"As far as Reagan's kids were concerned - they considered him a scumbag parent when he was president"

We all know about Ron Jr. and his gay escapades, but how can you make that statement regarding Maureen? You're over the edge.

[DKNY]

Go away, you are a pathetic man with nothing better to do but rant and rave all day because you have nothing of merit to offer.

[areafiftyone]

I was actually repeating Fierce Allegances words about Rudy. If you read what he wrote. Reagan had major problems with his kids when he was president that played out all the time in the MSM. They called him aloof, cold and distant.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I never said anything about reagans kids.

[Fierce Allegiance]

LMAO! You initiate a conversation with an attack, get a few posts pulled after making baseles claims and tell ME to go away? Sounds to me like you are a pathertic cranky old liberal hag. You have never had anything to say in any debate form, other than lies.

Be gone, troll.

[republicanwizard]

That didn't answer the question you posed, but I am understanding of your reading difficulties. Why don't you reread my previous reply to you? It's a few sentences and should only take you a couple hours.

[RockinRight]

Later in his life he was. Michael Reagan has talked about it on his show. RWR reconciled with his kids later in life.

[DKNY]

Oh you are back to name calling... love when you prove my point.... LOL.

[areafiftyone]

RWR reconciled with his kids later in life.

And that is when it usually happens. Later in life. When the kids grow up and realize that Daddy or mommy was not as bad as they thought they were and perhaps there were reasons for the way they acted or the things they did.

[areafiftyone]

did you read what I wrote? I said I was saying about Reagan what you said about Rudy. I know the sentence came out strange but read it again.

[longtermmemmory]

IOW we now have a parsing effort as to what parts of the content of a persons character are more "worthy".

Pay no mind to that man behind the curtain. I am the all powerful OZ!

So it is ok that Guliani is a gun control advocate,
it is ok Guliani is an abortion advocate,
it is ok Guliani is a homosexual based marriage advocate,

why?

Because the ALMIGHTY Cato Institute just crunched the numbers and blessed the infalible Rudy Guliani as close enough to get elected.

[Reagan Man]

The Real Rudy Record

From the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research:

"Even with the tax cuts of the last several years, New York remains by far the most heavily taxed big city in the country."

TAXES: Giuliani did cut the marginal city income tax rates, reducing taxes by some $2.0-billion from 1996-2001, but those cuts only offset the $1.8-billion increase in city income tax rates put in place by Mayor Dinkins a few years earlier. In the end, income taxes were actually cut by a modest $200-million. Freezing the 12.5% surcharge on high wage earners was good, but Giuliani didn't attempt to abolish that surcharge. Nor did Giuliani attempt to make serious permanent changes to the city income tax code. The primary reason Rudy and the City Council agreed to cut taxes, was to make NYCity more appealing to new businesses thinking about locating/relocating to the Big Apple. A smart move, however, when Rudy left office he left NYCity straddled with some of the highest income taxes, property taxes and utility rates in the entire nation.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING: From 1997 to 2001, spending under Giuliani went up 32%. More then double the rate of inflation. Rudy left NYCity with a projected, pre-9/11 deficit of $2.0 billion and an increased debt total of $42-billion. Second largest debt after the federal government. Giuliani also added 15,000 new teachers to the city employment rolls. Increasing the membership of two major liberal organizations, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

"The scope of government was not reduced at all. The mayor abandoned his most visible initiative in this sphere—the proposed sale of the city hospital system—after a struggle with the unions and defeats in the courts. He did cut costs in social services; even before the new federal welfare reforms took effect in 1997, the city had begun to significantly reduce caseloads. But money saved on social services has only helped to subsidize big increases in other categories. Today the array of social services sponsored and partially funded by the city—from day care to virtually guaranteed housing—is as wide as ever.

"In the final analysis, Mayor Giuliani sought to make the city deliver services more efficiently—not to make the city deliver fewer services. Gains in efficiency were offset, however, by a spike in the costs of outsourced contracts (see point 2 below). Thus, in two areas where inroads might have been made, the city instead failed to reduce spending."

"1. Personnel Increases. In 1995–96, the city entered into a series of collective bargaining agreements with its public-employee unions. In addition to granting pay increases that ended up roughly equaling inflation, the city promised not to lay off any workers for the life of the contracts. These agreements were expected to add $2.2 billion to the budget by fiscal 2001. But that estimate didn’t reckon with renewed growth in the number of city employees. After dipping in Giuliani’s first two years, the full-time headcount rose from 235,069, in June 1996 to over 253,000 by November 2000. Thanks largely to this growth in the workforce, the total increase in personnel service costs since 1995 has been $4 billion.

2. "Outsourced Services. The failure to shrink the scope of city government made it all the more imperative that Mayor Giuliani vastly increase its efficiency. In the attempt to increase productivity, the mayor farmed out some city services to private contractors. But as the number of outsourced contracts doubled under Giuliani, contractual expenses also nearly doubled—from $3 billion to $5.8 billion. While it may be argued that the city saved money by outsourcing these services, the net savings turned out to be marginal at best. In practice, outsourcing proved to be more of a bargaining chip in negotiations with unions than a serious means of pruning expenses."

Hard evidence that Rudy Giuliani was NO fiscal conservative. Another run-of-the-mill NYCity liberal.

[jalisco555]

Thank you for posting this. I think it's the first post in the past 100 that doesn't involve name calling or high school graduations. It actually sticks to the topic of the thread.

[jalisco555]

My previous post notwithstanding, there's nothing run of the mill about Rudy. You had to visit NYC in the late 80's, early 90's to know the kind of transformation he wrought.

[Afronaut]

Another post from the "Fifteen Percent"

[Josh Randal]

This individual appears to be having a bad hair day.

[Fierce Allegiance]

That didn't answer the question you posed, but I am understanding of your reading difficulties.

I find it odd you write like a russian who is just now learning English. By the way, why would I need to answer to you a question I posed, which is what the first half of your sentence says.

I hate it when retards like you, who can't write properly, rag on me for comprehension. Look in the mirror, dope.

[areafiftyone]

Jeeze you keep neglecting to post this part of the Manhattan Institutes's evaluation

When city taxes were raised by record amounts under Mayor Dinkins in the early 1990s, New York lost hundreds of thousands of jobs. On the other hand, tax cuts enacted under Mayor Giuliani were responsible for nearly one out of every four new jobs created during the last seven years.