Mr. Dellaverson, whose comments, made in an e-mail message to board members, were distributed by an agency spokesman, said the sudden shortfall "will make our budget adoption next week quite challenging".
"But that's one of the reasons we decided to make our budget transparent and to show where the funds are coming from, to discuss the issues of the finances.
The Celtic housing bubble was more inflated than America's (a lot of those McMansions are half-finished and abandoned), the Celtic banking industry was more reckless in its bets, and Ireland's debts, private and public, make our budget woes look manageable by comparison.
"Those are big-ticket items that allow us to make our budget goals without laying off people," Small said.
The Mayor concluded his remarks by discussing what could make our budget worse: the unresolved fiscal crisis in Sacramento.
But it looks like New York is not renewing a tax credit that makes it possible to make our budget in New York.
"The value of the dollar is making our budgets shrink because it's worth less than it used to be," Mr. Probst said.
And for years the Democrats have ignored those recommendations and instead increased spending, making our budget plight even worse.
"We've made our budget as lean as possible, and even beyond that, so any further cuts will have an impact on our students," said John Crowe, the Woodbridge superintendent.
The major perk of our current, temporary "budget autonomy" arrangement isn't that we get to make our own budget decisions, because we don't, but that our locally paid-for city services (like trash collection) won't come to a halt if Congress can't pass a federal budget.
