Sources To CBS2: De Blasio Rejected Offer To Raise Minimum Wage
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio was all smiles and jokey at a news conference Wednesday about free glasses for some city students, but the latest news out of Albany is no laughing matter.
Multiple sources told CBS2 that the mayor, who has traveled the nation pushing his progressive agenda, turned down an opportunity to raise the minimum wage in New York City from $8.75 an hour to $11.50 -- a 31 percent increase.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported, sources say the offer to hike the minimum wage, which could have put money in the pockets of thousands of fast-food workers and others who toil for base pay, was offered as part of a deal to revamp disability pensions for cops and firefighters injured in the line of duty.
"This was a false choice ... a deeply flawed and severely limited minimum wage bill that never would have passed in exchange for a fiscally reckless pension bill that would have cost New York City taxpayers $6 billion," mayoral spokeswoman Karen Hinton said.
Albany experts dispute the $6 billion figure, saying that pension changes enacted previously would actually save $21 billion over the next two decades.
They charge the mayor didn't want the pension bill because of his anger at Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who blamed de Blasio's rhetoric for leading to the murder of two cops last December.
Sources said de Blasio was willing to agree to the pension deal for firefighters but not for the police union. When asked about that, the mayor said: "You know, in my role, I cannot just think of the budget we're about to vote on in a few days. I have to think about what the city is going to be like in five years, 10 years, 20 years. And the legislation passed by the City Council is a fair compromise, and that's what we stand by."
Also high up on the mayor's list of defeats are a one-year extension of mayoral control of the schools -- he wanted permanent control, but a minimum of three years -- and an increase in the number of charter schools authorized for the city.
The mayor's aggressive and unsuccessful campaign to defeat Senate Republicans was blamed for the losses. The mayor said he didn't regret trying to defeat them.
De Blasio also hoped for much tougher rent regulations, but he declined Wednesday to criticize the tentative deal reached by legislative leaders.
The mayor said final negotiations are ongoing and that he will reserve judgment until the legislation is adopted.
"That issue is still being debated right now, and it does not make sense to speak to the final resolution until we see the final resolution," the mayor told reporters, including WCBS 880's Rich Lamb. "I think they've seen some real progress so far in what we're hearing of the rent resolution in Albany. But it ain't over till it's over in Albany."
In fact, instead of criticizing Albany, de Blasio went out of his way to praise the Democratic-led Assembly for being responsive to the city's concerns.
De Blasio was also seeking a total overhaul of a tax break for real estate developers — which legislative leaders have agreed to extend for six months.
Cuomo has frequently thwarted de Blasio's agenda, and the mayor has rarely attacked back.
The mayor did not answer a reporter's question Wednesday about whether his relationship with the governor has become more strained.
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