New York business leaders fret over mayoral candidates New York property developers and other business leaders say they are concerned about how the city's business climate will change once Michael Bloomberg steps down as mayor early next year. The next occupant of City Hall faces a growing budget deficit, labour negotiations and ageing infrastructure, among other issues. Many executives worry the candidates lack the corporate experience and business affinity that have defined Mr Bloomberg's approach over the past decade, and may be less sympathetic on business costs and taxes. "The business community is concerned, not because they don't like any individual candidate, but it's the sense that we're returning to an era of conventional politics where people who are fundamentally politicians, rather than business leaders . . . are going to be back in charge," said Janno Lieber of World Trade Center Properties, an affiliate of Silverstein Partners. Real estate carries considerable clout: the sector was the second-largest contributor to the city's economy in 2011 and developers are some of the most generous donors to this year's mayoral campaigns. Candidates count executives at Related Companies, which is building the $15bn Hudson Yards project on Manhattan's far west side, and Silverstein Partners, developer of three towers at the World Trade Center, among their bundlers - donors who solicit contributions from other supporters. But at the same time as business leaders are opening their wallets to candidates, many praise Mr Bloomberg for avoiding the minefield of donor influence by using his own fortune to bankroll his three runs for office. "Of all the candidates running, it is hard to see who could be like him as no one has the luxury to say, "I don't care, the right thing for the city is this,"" said one chief executive of a global real estate company. The leading Democratic candidates - frontrunner and city council speaker Christine Quinn, former comptroller Bill Thompson, public advocate Bill de Blasio and comptroller John Liu - are all career politicians who have spent years in elected office. On the Republican side, Joe Lhota, the former head of New York's transportation agency, has tried to position himself as a pro-business, socially liberal candidate in Mr Bloomberg's mould. He trails all of the top four Democrats in head-to-head matchups in recent polling, however. Will the next mayor be grounded in local clubhouse politics, or will they recognise New York City's position as the centre of global business Kathy Wylde, Partnership for New York City Developers say they are particularly concerned about New York's competitiveness on business costs and tax rates on the wealthy, often foreign, individuals who have helped support the high-end property market in recent years. "While higher taxes are inevitable, from a developer's point of view, it is important that the city does not price itself out," said Joseph Moinian of the Moinian Group, which is building a 72-story office tower near Hudson Yards. Tax worries have been heightened by the city's fiscal deficit, forecast in Mr Bloomberg's budget to reach $2.2bn in 2015. State and federal aid are projected to decline, and the city's spending growth is expected to outpace rising tax revenue over the next four years, according to the non-profit Citizens Budget Commission. "The business community does not feel there's much latitude in terms of raising taxes because our combined city, state and federal burden is already the highest in the country," said Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business lobbying group. Business leaders also say the candidates have not paid enough attention to the larger questions of growth facing the city. Will the next mayor be grounded in local clubhouse politics, or will they recognise New York City's position as the centre of global business and all that entails . . . [to] keep the city at the front of the pack in terms of global competition from other cities that are looking to attract talent and take our jobs? Ms Wylde said. We need a mayor who is also chief marketing officer. Still, local issues, such as labour costs, loom large for Mr Bloomberg's successor. Most of the unions representing the city's 30,000 employees - including teachers, police and firefighters - are working without a contract, some since as far back as 2008. The mayoral candidates, who are seeking union endorsement, have blasted the Bloomberg administration for failing to reach labour agreements. Some have also acknowledged, however, that workers may need to make concessions on healthcare costs and pensions to deal with rising costs that risk further inflating the city's budget shortfall. "Businesses might decide to leave New York if they can see their workforce does not want to live here due to higher taxes or if they just decide they cannot afford to be based here any more and cannot pay for their workforce to be here," said the global real estate executive. Veteran political watchers say such warnings are part of the electoral cycle. There's the dance where businesses threaten to move. To some degree everybody's heard that before and I think politicians factor that in," said Kenneth Sherrill, an emeritus professor of political science at Hunter College. He said he was "hard pressed to think of any candidate who is hostile to the business community." But, he added: "There is a strong sense that inequality has gotten out of hand in the city. There may be a strong sense that real estate community is getting more deference than it ought to. Land use decisions are always contentious and there's nothing more scarce in New York City than land.