11/19/08 06:49 AM
NEW YORK CITY
Mayor may not cancel city tax rebate checks
NEW YORK (AP) — Two weeks after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he was canceling $400 property tax rebate checks for more than 600,000 homeowners, the mayor has conceded that he may not have the authority to do so.
Bloomberg had proposed canceling the checks as a way of saving $256 million. But the city’s top budget official admitted Monday that the mayor would not be able to rescind the rebates without City Council approval.
Bloomberg himself backed off from the idea while speaking to reporters in Washington.
“It’s probably up in the air,” he said.
