NEW YORK CITY-The commercial real estate industry has applauded Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the City Council’s prevailing wage legislation, but local labor unions representing building service employees slammed the proposal as inequitable and fiscally irresponsible.

In an e-mail to GlobeSt.com, Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, says imposing wage mandates increases costs on employers and raises the risk of less jobs, investment and tax revenue for the city. “We appreciate the speaker’s efforts to balance a series of interests,” he says, adding, “such types of legislation, however, is flawed because of the precedent it sets.”

Previously, the City Council proposed to establish a prevailing wage requirement for building service employees in certain city leased or financially-assisted facilities. As introduced, the legislation covered building service employees working at economic development projects receiving more than $1 million in discretionary financial assistance, or at least 100,000 square feet, as well as those working in office buildings where the city leases at least 10,000 square feet and a majority of the total space, according to city records.