According to the results of a poll commissioned by District Council 37, more than three quarters of New York City registered voters are opposed to Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to layoff municipal workers in order to balance the City's budget. Furthermore, nearly 90% of NYC registered voters believe that the City should cut private contractors and consultants instead of laying off municipal employees.

By an 89%-10% margin, NYC voters agree with the statement that "The Mayor should not begin laying off City workers until he's examined the cost savings that could be realized by using City workers instead of outside contractors and consultants."

District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts says, "The poll results indicate that the Mayor and other elected officials should pay attention to the enormous waste of City tax dollars before they start reducing City services, undermining our quality of life, and ruining the lives of thousands of municipal employees."

According to the poll, by a 77%-15% margin, NYC voters say they "would not vote for a politician who voted to lay off city employees instead of eliminating wasteful contracts and unnecessary spending."

In the past year District Council 37 has released three "White Papers," which show that the City wastes billions of dollars per year on expenditures for outside contractors who perform the same work as City employees at a higher cost. Many of these contractors are located outside New York City and New York State and do not pay City taxes.

According to the poll, by a 66%-27% margin, NYC voters support "a tax surcharge on the city's wealthiest residents in order to help balance the City's budget."

The poll of 600 registered voters in New York City was conducted for District Council 37 by LRA Consulting of New York City in conjunction with the polling firm of Schroth and Associates of Washington, DC. The poll was conducted from March 24 to March 26 and has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Highlights of LRA Consulting/Schroth Poll Results

By a 76%-19% margin, NYC voters oppose "layoffs of City employees in order to balance the budget."

By a 79%-19% margin, NYC voters believe that "a large layoff of City employees would lead to a reduction in City services and a decline in the overall quality of life in New York City."

Seventy nine percent of NYC voters believe that the Mayor "should not begin laying-off City workers until he's examined the cost savings that could be realized by using City workers instead of outside contractors and consultants."

By an 86%-6% margin, NYC voters believe that if "the City had to make a choice between laying off City employees or cutting outside private contractors and consultants who do similar work as City employees," that outside contractors and consultants should be eliminated.

By a 65%-20% margin, NYC voters trust City employees more than private contractors to "do a better job at a fair cost."

By a 70%-24% margin, NYC voters support the statement that "now is not the time to start laying off City employees, since that will lead to more unemployment and a reduction in services that are key to maintaining our quality of life." Only 24% of NYC voters supported the statement that "The City of New York government is a big bureaucracy that can afford to lay off some employees and provide the same services more efficiently while allowing the City to preserve its quality of life."

Eighty-five percent of NYC voters believe that "many outside contractors get their contracts by using their political connections and campaign contributions."