The city of Jamestown has finally received its December state aid payment, albeit a couple days late and more than a few dollars short.
And even though that money - or most of it - is safely in the bank, city officials are still faced with several unanswered questions.
Gov. David Paterson announced that it would be trimmed by 10 percent in an effort to keep the state financially solvent. The announcement came on Dec. 13 - just two days before the second and last state aid payment of 2009 was due to 57 of the state's 62 municipalities.
On Thursday morning, the state sent $4,008,288 to Jamestown - a full $445,465 less than was due. Even so, Bellitto said the city won't have to take ''even a nickel'' from the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, a move the City Council had planned for in case a cash flow issue prevented the city from making December payroll.
While city officials are pleased to have received the money, the fact that it was late meant the city didn't have enough money to make its mandatory contribution to the state police and fire retirement system on time. And that means even though the state made the city late for that payment, the state could still charge a penalty - about $500, according to Bellitto - for that late payment.
Whether the state will charge that penalty remains unclear, though, and city officials are still left wondering whether the 10 percent still owed by the state will be delayed or totally eliminated.
''If it's a delay, we're fine - as long as that 10 percent is paid to us by March 31, which is the end of the state's fiscal year,'' Teresi said. ''But an outright elimination of that money is another story altogether.''
Elimination of that 10 percent might lead to a class-action lawsuit on behalf of municipalities against the state and the governor.
At least one such lawsuit has already been filed against Paterson. The state teacher's union and groups representing school district superintendents, school board members and administrators filed a lawsuit regarding $582 million in school aid and property tax reimbursements that Paterson has decided to withhold from school systems.
It remains unclear whether municipalities would join together in a similar lawsuit. While he called the decision ''very bad news for the state's fiscally strapped cities and property tax payers,'' Peter Barnes, the executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, stopped short of calling for legal action against the state.
Whether Jamestown would participate in any such lawsuit if it were filed is an issue that remains unsolved, Teresi said.
''That's something we'd have to look at internally and something I'd have to discuss with the City Council,'' Teresi said. ''Our position would be that it's illegal for him to eliminate that $445,465 we're due for 2009. I don't think he has the legal authority to eliminate that funding. Manage funding for cash flow issues, yes. Eliminate it? No. The minute the delay turns into an elimination, that's where the line is drawn.''
If that funding is eliminated, it would create a $445,465 revenue hole in the 2009 city budget - a revenue hole that hasn't been planned for and that could wreak havoc on a fund balance that's already been depleted.
''To call a nearly $450,000 hole in the 2009 city budget 'problematic' is an understatement,'' Teresi said. ''We, and every other municipality, have already provided the services that money is to pay for. To eliminate it after the service has been provided raises grave questions of legality.''
Just the same, Teresi said he is ''confident'' the state would be able to meet its obligations and pay the 10 percent by March 31. But more dramatic action is needed to help the state solve its financial problems, he said.
''I think the state needs to put a control board in place for itself,'' he said. ''They do it when local governments default and cannot operate. And when they did it for the city of Buffalo, they used the phrase 'adult supervision.' I think some adult supervision is needed where the operation of our state is concerned.''