New York plans to cut 7,000 more jobs as a result of the reluctance of unions and state officials in helping the city balance its budget.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has asked municipal unions to pay for 10% of the health care expenses of personnel and to find extra health cost cuts to save $557 million in an effort to evade layoffs.

Meanwhile, Mark Page -- the head of the New York Office of Management and Budget (OMB) -- asked city agency heads in a letter on Wednesday to reduce $350 million from their budgets as tax incomes continue to fall short of projections.

The new round of headcount reductions aims to cut the budget for fiscal 2010 by another $350 million, Page said.

The cuts come on top of about 9,000 layoffs that were included in the January preliminary budget for 2010.

MVZ/AA