5 agencies make too much to face budget cuts

From Kirsten Danis at the Daily News:

"Everything that the city does is important, and we can't sit here and say one thing is more important than another. Everybody's going to share the pain," Mayor Bloomberg said in March about his budget cuts.

Not quite everybody.

Five agencies - Buildings, Consumer Affairs, City Clerk, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Commission - avoided several rounds of cuts ordered up by the mayor earlier this year to gird the city for tough times ahead.

That's because they generate cash through fees and fines. If cuts are too deep and the departments start churning more revenue than they spend, the fees can be considered illegal taxes - and leave the city open to being sued.