Despite $3 billion in budget cuts, Mayor Bloomberg’s biannual management report contends city services improved virtually across-the-board in fiscal 2004, compared to the year before. Streets got cleaner, homicides declined, and even though six firehouses were shuttered, emergency response times didn’t suffer as a result.

“New Yorkers have much to be proud of when it comes to city services,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a written statement that accompanied the 262-page overview of just how the city is faring. “We have met New Yorkers most pressing needs and are operating government efficiently and responsively despite the city’s fiscal crisis and $3 billion in budget reductions.”

In fiscal 2004, the Fire Department responded to over 236,000 fire, nonfire, and nonmedical incidents, 4% more than in fiscal 2003, the mayor’s overview said. During the blackout of 2003, emergency call volumes rose dramatically but firemen had trouble responding to calls since traffic slowed to a crawl without the aid of traffic lights.

City officials stripped out the response times associated with the blackout last August and found that overall response times were five minutes and

55 seconds. That’s about two seconds faster than 2003. The Fire Department said in the report that the six firehouse closures “had virtually no impact on citywide average response time.”

Mr. Bloomberg, who plans to run for re-election on the twin issues of education and crime, found much to crow about in the latest assessment of city services.

Crime decreased significantly at the 16 Impact Schools that were part of his newly implemented School Safety Initiative. The percentage of students in grades three to six and eight meeting English testing standards rose to 42.7% from 42.3% in the 2003-04 school year. Performance levels in mathematics for grades three, five, six and seven rose 42.5% over this period, compared with 37.5% during fiscal 2003. The percentage of certified teachers also rose to 98.5% for 2003-04, up from 89.6%.

On the crime front, there were fewer than 600 murders in New York City for the second straight fiscal year. That’s the lowest level since 1963, the report said. Major felony crimes also declined for the 13th consecutive fiscal year, dropping by 3% from 147,669 in fiscal 2003 to 143,268 in fiscal 2004.

Where the mayor has been less successful is in the area of health care. The infant mortality rate increased to 6.5 infant deaths per thousand live births, compared with 6.0 in the year earlier period. AIDS increased by 960 cases to 5,124. Tuberculosis rates went from 1,140 cases to 1,084.

Syphilis cases also rose for the fourth consecutive year: In fiscal year 2000, there were just 131 cases citywide; in fiscal 2004, the number rose to 599.The increase occurred among gay and bisexual men, health officials say.

The report also found that the number of people in the city’s homeless system inched upward, even though the number of new homeless families decreased for the first time in four years. The number of new single adults in shelters climbed 6%, the fifth consecutive year that the number has grown.