NEW YORK, NY January 28, 2008 —Mayor Bloomberg will testify in Albany today as lawmakers get down to work on Governor Spitzer's proposed budget. WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports.

Mayor Bloomberg's appearance in Albany comes a week after Governor Spitzer introduced a preliminary budget that City officials say shorted the city by as much as a half-billion dollars in expected state support. City Public school boosters were disappointed that the Spitzer's allocation for City schools was a $100 million less than promised last year.

Also well short of previous commitments was state unrestricted municipal aide the City can use as it chooses. In response to signs of a slowing economy this fall the Bloomberg Administration started making cuts effective this year and commiting to a 5% spending reduction for next year at all City agencies, including at the Department of Education. Those savings and more than $4 billion from past year surpluses all helped to save the City from having to make service cuts for now.

But Mayor Bloomberg has warned that his hope on delivering over a billion dollars in property tax relief for city homeowners hinges on how the economy performs over the next few months and how well the City gets treated by state budget makers. Albany's budget deadline is April 1st and the City's is the end of June. For WNYC, am Bob Hennelly.