Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to alter his executive budget after Comptroller Scott Stringer demanded $725 million in retroactive teacher pay be accounted for in the current 2014 fiscal year, rather than in future years as de Blasio had planned. Stringer’s office said de Blasio’s plan to pay for the back pay down the road contradicts established accounting principles. De Blasio was forced to shift the $725 million, which then affects next fiscal year and outlines for others the administration had forecast based on the teachers union deal. The administration says this change is not a problem. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investor Service declared de Blasio’s budget to be “credit negative” because it will increase the city’s deficit by $5 billion over three years to fund union wage increases.
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