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The Case To Restructure Jamestown

The handwriting has been on the wall, but it is now pretty clear that something needs to “give” in the way Jamestown does business. The city has hit its “constitutional ceiling” debt limit and the City Council just raised the budget in excess of the state’s 2 percent spending cap limit.

This is sad, because in other ways, especially in development downtown with the new National Comedy Center, things are looking up. It is good to have a strategic plan for downtown. It would be even better if there were also a strategic plan for city government.

When you look at the city’s budget, the problem seems pretty clear: the police and fire departments with their high overhead in benefits consume about $20 million in a $35 million budget. It is no wonder that there is little money left for the Senior Citizens Center and other worthy causes.

The “sadness” is perpetuated because we know that we can expect the same scenario next year. Same issue, same problem, nothing changing. The city’s revenue picture was hurt this year because gasoline prices were down, and therefore sales tax revenues were less than hoped for. The city has gone again to the BPU trying to bring in more money, but that, too, has its limits. The trend is not good. The population of the city has declined from 31,146 to 30,429 (U.S. Census Bureau) in the past four years. More worrisome, the full value assessment for the city is at $665 million, less than it was in 2007.

At some point, the cost of police and fire services will need to be addressed. Jamestown long ago negotiated a 20-year retirement at half pay. A policeman or fireman who starts working at age 21 can retire at 41 making $100,000 a year and is guaranteed half that pay and full benefits for the rest of his/her life. On top of this, the state, through effective union lobbying in Albany, has imposed arbitration procedures where cities have little control but which are very costly. This generous level of benefits might work in a city like New York, but it cannot be sustained in a small, upstate city with declining population and stagnant property values.

I spoke with a person recently who lives in a nice neighborhood on the edge of Jamestown in an area bordering the town of Busti. His taxes are over $10,000 per year, about twice that of his neighbor who lives in a comparable home in Busti. Guess whose house is worth more? Yes, the neighbor in Busti. Though Busti increased taxes this year, they have not reached the level of taxes in Jamestown. To say it another way, lower property taxes result in better home prices.

If this were the private sector, changes would be made and issues addressed. There would be consolidations, down-sizing, mergers, acquisitions, the formation of new corporations and entities, maybe even bankruptcy … whatever would best address the problem being faced. But this is government, so we tend to trudge on in the same direction apparently powerless to make the changes necessary to benefit our common interests.

If city government could become more efficient and less costly, it would help create a better economic climate and more job growth which would help everyone in the area.

A Chautauqua County resident interested in public policy and local government writes these views under the name Hall Elliot.

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