Mayor Bloomberg is on the wrong track with the budget. That was the view from the more credible members of an enlightening panel discussion held yesterday morning by Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs. The question of the day was “Is the Solution Privatization?” On the yes side of that question was a professor of public affairs at Baruch, E.S. Savas, who estimated that the Giuliani administration saved $1.4 billion a year through its many privatizations — which included selling WNYC-TV, privatizing the management of Central Park, and selling off thousands of city-owned buildings and parking garages. However, one of Rudolph Giuliani’s deputy mayors, Anthony Coles, said that in the Bloomberg administration, “The debate about privatization is off the table.”

Of course, Mr. Bloomberg had his apologists. A Dinkins veteran, Carol O’Cleireacain, piped up that Mr. Bloomberg really was a victim of circumstance — falling revenues and soaring costs.

But most of the panel focused on what efficiencies the Bloomberg bunch could be pursuing. Ideas mentioned included: divesting city-owned acute care hospitals, privatizing bus lines, selling public housing, contracting out school custodial services, and instituting a turn-key model for school construction. Sounds like a few good ways to close the gap.