Back in April, Mayor Bloomberg’s executive budget predicted a gap in Fiscal Year 2005 of about $750 million. In the midst of his spending restoration binge, Mr. Bloomberg’s office is now putting that figure at $1.8 billion. That’s a billion dollar jump, and it comes even after a $2.7 billion “bailout” from Albany — if a statewide tax hike that hits the city disproportionately counts as a bailout at all. So, should the city be adopting a $44.5 billion budget, up from $43.6 billion last year, that restores $115 million in proposed cuts to libraries, zoos, cultural centers, a scholarship program named after a former council speaker, Peter Vallone, and a few other miscellaneous items?

The fact is that these restorations are small fry — a few million in a sea of billions. As the Manhattan Institute’s fiscal policy expert, E.J. McMahon, told The New York Sun yesterday, “They’ve picked the low hanging fruit.” While the operations budget has been held basically steady, the big fish — Medicaid, pensions, debt service — continue to grow at an alarming rate. In the mayor’s executive budget from April, pension costs are estimated to grow to $3.4 billion in FY 2005 from $2.7 billion in FY 2004. Debt service is estimated to be going up about a quarter billion dollars between FY 2004 and FY 2005.

Furthermore, the mayor and the City Council are counting on a rosy economic scenario. The office of the comptroller, William Thompson, commenting on the April executive budget, saw almost $3 billion worth of risk in the mayor’s numbers.” They’re watching the stock index, going ‘whoa,'” as Mr. McMahon put it. However, they would need a rally of 1998 through 2000 proportions — all in the next 12 months — to pull themselves out of their hole pain free. More likely, there will be pain. And next time it won’t be closing a few firehouses and laying off some non-teachers.

Unless, of course, the mayor and the City Council go back to the well they drank from this time around. The mayor said that outside of something unforeseeable, he will not propose any more tax hikes in the future. What exactly unforeseeable means, however, remains to be seen. We’re willing to bet the mayor doesn’t foresee much, presently. So far, over two years, this administration has raised taxes by $3 billion, between the 18.5% property tax increase, the cigarette tax increase, and assorted other fees and fines.

So, as the politicians pat themselves on the backs for making it through to see another day, remember that they didn’t balance the budget by rolling up their sleeves and making tough choices. They did it by taxing and by pushing our problems off another year, praying for a jumpstarted economy. At the same time, they have countered President Bush’s attempt to jumpstart the national economy. The city and state tax increases will erase the benefits of Mr. Bush’s tax cuts for most New Yorkers. If we want to restore anything, perhaps it should be those cuts.