Tight fiscal times haven’t stopped Mayor Bloomberg from finding openings in city government for his campaign troops, The Post has learned.
Some of the ex-campaign workers will be returning to jobs they left in City Hall and at city agencies.
But others will be landing in entirely new positions created just for them.
“There will be an increase in the total numbers of slots in the mayor’s office,” said the insider.
Bloomberg had earlier pledged to cut his own office payroll, which now has 450 people.
The new hires come just weeks before the mayor releases his plan for closing a $4.1 billion deficit — with layoffs possible.
The campaigners landing on the city payroll include:
* Larry Blackmon, who quit as chief of staff at the Department of Small Business Services to become a $144,000-a-year campaign coordinator in the African-American community.
He’s now becoming a $169,560 deputy parks commissioner.
* Matthew Gorton, who left as a spokesman for the mayor to work on the re-election, and returned last month with his $75,712 salary intact.
* Mike Hopper, who headed the mayor’s advance team in the government and the campaign, now at a job at NYC & Co.
* Brian Mehanna, a campaign policy adviser, now becoming Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler’s counsel at a salary of $140,000.