Romney Campaign Press Release - Big Spending Brings Billion-Dollar Budget Bust

"Mayor Bloomberg Vowed... He Won't Leave His Successor In City Hall With The Same Financial Mess He Inherited From Rudy Giuliani When He First Took Office." (Michael Saul, "I Won't Leave A Mess, Says Mike," [New York] Daily News, 6/2/07)

Mayor Giuliani Spent His Way To A Multi-Billion Dollar Deficit ...

Citizens Budget Commission: Mayor Giuliani Left A Projected Budget Gap Of $3.1 Billion. "At the time of his last adopted budget, for fiscal year 2002, Mayor Giuliani left his successor with a projected budget gap of $3.1 billion for fiscal year 2003. In comparison, at the time of Mayor Dinkins' last adopted budget, Mayor Giuliani inherited a projected budget gap of $1.3 billion for fiscal year 1995." ("Rudolph W. Giuliani's Fiscal Record As Mayor Of New York City," Citizens Budget Commission, 6/5/07)

- According To The Nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center, The Multi-Billion Dollar Deficit Mayor Giuliani Left Did Not Include Costs Associated With 9/11. "In addition, the ad's claim that Giuliani turned the budget deficit he inherited into a surplus, while true enough, ignores the fact that he also left a multibillion-dollar deficit for his successor, not including costs associated with 9/11." ("Giuliani's Tax Puffery," FactCheck.org Website, http://www.factcheck.org/, 7/27/07)

... And Left "Enormous Deficits" To His Successor ...

Mayor Giuliani's Final Budget Spent Surplus Funds, Creating Massive Deficits In Future Years. "The budget adopted for fiscal year 2002 in June 2001 contained one egregious fiscal policy error and one understandable misjudgment. The error was to allocate $2.5 billion of a $2.8 billion accumulated surplus, generated when revenues exceeded projections in a booming economy, to support operating expenditures during fiscal year 2002. By using the surplus to support ongoing expenses, City officials were creating a budget problem in the next year when the surplus was no longer available." ("Managing The Budget In The Bloomberg Administration," Citizens Budget Commission, 12/7/01)

Mayor Bloomberg Vowed Not To Leave His Successor With The Same "Enormous Deficits" He Inherited From Mayor Giuliani. "Mayor Bloomberg vowed yesterday he won't leave his successor in City Hall with the same financial mess he inherited from Rudy Giuliani when he first took office. And although Bloomberg never mentioned his predecessor by name, it was clear he was referring to the 2008 Republican presidential candidate. 'I'm determined that when I leave the city, we won't have, my successor, the first year in office, won't have enormous deficits to deal with,' Bloomberg said on his WABC-AM radio show." (Michael Saul, "I Won't Leave A Mess, Says Mike," [New York] Daily News, 6/2/07)

... Leaving Experts To Agree That Mayor Giuliani Left The City Budget A Mess:

In 2001, The Citizens Budget Commission Gave The Giuliani Administration A "D" For Budgeting Responsibility. "D: The City has done a poor job of addressing its long term structural fiscal imbalance, resulting in large gaps between planned spending and expected revenues in future years." (The Citizens Budget Commission, "New York City Budget Report Card – Fiscal Year 2002," 8/01)

Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow E.J. McMahon: "He basically took the surplus that he had accumulated in the previous five years and spent it all in his last year's budget. He did not leave things tidy and manageable." (Melanie Lefkowitz, "The Odd Couple: Assessing The Mayors," [New York] Newsday, 7/9/07)

The Annenberg Public Policy Center: "Giuliani's radio ad also asserts that he 'turned a 2.3 billion deficit into a multibillion-dollar surplus' in New York. Well, not if you're comparing what he inherited with what he left, which would be a logical way to look at it. When he took office in 1994, Giuliani was indeed facing a $2.3 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. But Giuliani's last budget, issued in May 2001 – before 9/11 – for fiscal 2002, projected a deficit of nearly $2.8 billion in fiscal 2003, the first budget year the new mayor would face. The IBO estimated the deficit would be even larger, about $3.3 billion." ("Giuliani's Tax Puffery," FactCheck.org Website, http://www.factcheck.org/, 7/27/07)