Dinkins Plans to Lay Off 15,000 in N.Y. Fiscal Crisis

NEW YORK — Two days after announcing a $1.8-billion anti-crime plan, Mayor David N. Dinkins on Thursday ordered a hiring and promotion freeze and directed budget aides to draft a plan to lay off 15,000 city employees.

If enacted, the layoffs would be the biggest since the fiscal crisis of 1975, when the city hovered near bankruptcy and about 25,000 employees were let go.

The police hiring plan, which calls for adding nearly 8,000 officers to the force, would be exempt from the cutbacks. The anti-crime program would be paid for through a host of new taxes.

Dinkins said the city faces at least a $1.4-billion budget deficit in its next fiscal year, which begins July 1, because of an accelerating decline in the local economy. He said the hiring freeze and layoffs could cut $915 million from that deficit.

“With hard times come hard choices,” the mayor said. “We all hope and pray for better economic times. Until they arrive, however, I will continue to impose strict budgetary discipline.”

Dinkins said the hiring and promotion freeze would save the city about $115 million--$35 million over the rest of the current fiscal year and $80 million in the next fiscal year.

The mayor ordered all agency heads not to approve any pay raises and to restrict promotions to positions that have recently been vacated. Among the exempt positions will be those mandated by state or federal law.