New York - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday began his new job as head of the financially stricken state by announcing a personal pay cut.
Cuomo, who warns he will seek big budget reductions to rescue the state from a projected nine-billion-dollar deficit, will reduce his salary of $179 000 by five percent.
Top aides are taking the same cut and the executive branch's budget will also drop five percent.
“Change starts at the top and we will lead by example,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Families and business owners in every corner of the state have learned to do more with less in order to live within their means and government must do the same.”
Cuomo is expected to call this week for a salary freeze for all state workers, the New York Times reported. More than 900 state employees were laid off at the start of this year.
Cuomo, a Democrat, was elected in November to the governor's post once held by his father Andrew Cuomo.
In addition to New York's economic woes, Cuomo faces the challenge of an infamously dysfunctional political landscape in the state capital Albany.
He replaces David Paterson, who served one term as the emergency replacement for David Spitzer, who had to leave the post after being caught in a sex scandal. - Sapa-AFP