Bloomberg: What's Was Wrong With the Old Property-Tax Hike?

Democratic City Council members now challenging Republicans for State Senate seats are facing criticism over a 2002 vote to raise city property taxes by 18.5 percent.

Michael Bloomberg supported the increase in property tax.

At his press conference just now, I asked Bloomberg--who has been supportive of State Senate Republicans--if that's fair to criticize those lawmakers over the vote.

“For doing what [are they being criticized]? Paying our fire fighters and police officers and improving our schools? I don’t understand what you think they did wrong,” Bloomberg said.

When I told him that Republican State Senator Serf Maltese--who the mayor endorsed--is using the tax increase to attack his opponent Joe Addabbo on a mailer, Bloomberg said he hadn’t seen the mailer.

“I don’t know. You’d have to talk to Serf Maltese. I have absolutely no idea what he’s saying or what his literature is. If you want services, you’ve got to pay for them. I’m sorry. You want to get paid. They want to get paid.”