"This will be the city's most austere budget since 1981," the Mayor said.

And at the end of the year they will no doubt have to pass a pretty austere budget for the county.

Last month it introduced an austere budget and pegged its currency to the German mark.

In an austere budget year, this money ought to be counted toward the districts' regular school aid package.

And legislators will debate all these while trying to confine spending to the austere budget they approved April 19.

There is likely to be a moderate increase next year, despite an austere national budget.

This is a more austere budget, in line with what the Commission and Council requested.

It is an austere budget under difficult conditions in which, nevertheless, commitments are increased by 2.1 %.

New York City's public libraries, cut by the scissors of an austere budget, will be open less and have fewer books.

Or even the first to cope with austere budgets, tight deadlines and the pressure to create something new each season.