FYI: District Council 37, the city workers’ union, put out the fourth of in a series of “white papers” intended to answer the mayor’s critique that they’ve offered no workable solutions to the budget crunch. Yesterday’s paper focuses solely on tax collection efforts at the finance department, where the union says Mayor Bloomberg should add rather than subtract staff. By filling its ranks of tax assessors, the union argues, the department could generate an added $56 million a year. DC 37 also urges the mayor to abandon plans to close tax collection offices in Chicago and Los Angeles (which it says generate nearly $40 million annually and cost less than a million to operate), add 100 new auditors (which would generate $95 million) and close tax loopholes for corporations doing business with the city. [5/16/03]