Hefty raises in the new teachers contract will cost the city $446 million more in the future than it had planned to spend – even as the budget gaps grow bigger, the city comptroller’s office said yesterday.
The city has set aside $458 million for teacher salaries in fiscal year 2004, but the deal will cost closer to $900 million, a preliminary analysis by Comptroller William Thompson’s staffers showed.
City Hall and teachers-union President Randi Weingarten approved a tentative pact on Monday.
Raises of 16 percent to 22 percent mean projected salary spending will almost double in fiscal year 2004, a year when the administration already is predicting the budget gap will hit $5.2 billion.
“We’ll have to pay for it,” said mayoral spokesman Jordan Barowitz. “We’ll have to find a way.”
The largest factor in the ballooning cost is the $275 million price tag on the portion of the raise teachers are getting in return for working an extra 100 minutes a week.
The state is covering that cost in fiscal year ’03, which starts July 1, but the city is on it own after that.
And the pact could cost the city even more as other unions argue they are entitled to similar raises.
Meanwhile, in Albany the Senate passed legislation giving Mayor Bloomberg control over the city school system. The Assembly approved the measure on Monday.
Gov. Pataki will sign the bill into law today during a ceremony at Patrick Henry School (PS 171) in East Harlem.