Mayor de Blasio will furlough everyone in his office, including himself

NEW YORK - The New York City mayor says he is going to require everyone who works in his office to take a 5-day unpaid furlough because of a budget shortfall.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city has lost $9 billion in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The city has slashed the budget by $7 billion but cost savings are still needed.

The furloughs will begin on October 1 and will be spread out until March 2021.

"This is a step you never want to take for hardworking people," de Blasio said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

NYC may lay off 22,000 public workers on Oct. 1

The mayor says he will also be part of the furlough.  The unpaid time off is expected to save about $1 million.

There are nearly 500 employees in the mayor's office.  It had already put a hiring freeze in place and made other cuts to save approximately $12 million.

"We're going to be looking at all options," de Blasio answered when asked if it could be expanded to the entire city workforce.