Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented his $68.7 billion budget proposal for New York City this week, meeting with sharp criticism almost immediately.

Although the mayor noted that the city has recovered nearly twice the number of private-sector jobs it lost in the last recession, the pace of recovery on Wall Street has slowed its progress he said.

The proposal the mayor's unveiled this week would act as an interim step in the city's yearly budget process to stem the loss of public school teachers whilst potentially cutting fire companies and making biting cuts to low-income child-care programs.

The mayors budget would also cut $7 million to the city's Runaway and Homeless Youth Services, and the plan could eliminate 160 youth shelter beds.

According to CBS News, the mayor must come to an agreement with the City Council on a final version of the plan by the end of June but already a fight seems imminent.

Responding to the budget City Council Speaker Christine Quinn called the cuts to children's services 'unacceptable' and said they would be a top priority for her going into negotiations with the mayor.

Meanwhile Mayor Bloomberg has himself admitted he was concerned about the cuts and would work collaboratively with the council to resolve the issues.

Bloomberg's budget plan contains new money to replace the nearly 2,600 teachers who are expected to retire or quit at the end of the current school year, a figure that accounts for about 3.5 percent of the city's 73,700 instructors.

According to CBS, Bloomberg said the number of private-sector jobs in the city is the highest that it's ever been, with around 180 percent of jobs lost in the recession now recovered.

But many of the new jobs created, such as those in the tourism industry, pay less now than the jobs that were lost.

Officials quoted by CBS said the city lost 97,500 jobs from December 2007 through June 2009, and gained 174,500 from June 2009 to March 2012.

Along with Quinn, a number of city lawmakers are now objecting to the proposed cuts to child care, which could remove about half of the 52,000 slots in city, the sponsored after-school programs serving low-income neighborhoods. More than one-third of the 42,000 child-care slots for children in low-income working families are also threatened by the mayors proposals.

The proposed budget would reportedly shut down 20 fire companies, which the city fire commissioner says would delay response times, and it would also limit library funding. Responding to the propels Amy Geduldig, a spokeswoman for the New York Public Library, told the press the cuts could shutter 12 of the system's 87 library branches and close the remaining locations an extra one or two days each week.