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Terrorist Attacks Cost New York 1 Billion Dollars in Revenue Loss
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York may cost the city government one billion U.S. dollars in lost revenue, mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Tuesday.
He made the prediction when presenting a 39 billion dollar budget for 2002. There would be a 1.6 billion dollar deficit, including 600 million dollars foreseen before the September 11 events, he said.
The mayor asked city agencies to slash spending by 15 percent except for uniformed services, namely fire and police departments, and education which would have to cut their spending only by 2.5 percent.
Describing the impact of the attacks, the mayor said the city has lost 100,000 jobs in the wake of the attacks which toppled the twin 110-story towers of the landmark building. Over 5,000 people have fallen victims and a pile of wreckage weighing 1.2 million tons has to be removed.
Businesses such as hotels, restaurants and retail sales have recorded a 50 percent loss in the first two weeks after the attacks, Giuliani said.
The disaster could bring the city a loss of between 90 billion and 105 billion dollars in cleanup, repair, recovery and reconstruction for the next two years, city comptroller Alan Hevesi said last week.
In the eyes of New York State Governor George Pataki, the basic rescue, recovery and rebuilding effort would cost 34 billion dollars.
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