The Jamestown City Council is slated to pass a 2020 budget with a tax decrease.

On Monday, the regular monthly voting session meeting of the council will be held in its chambers on the second floor of the city Municipal Building, located at 200 E. Third St., which includes a resolution to pass the 2020 fiscal plan.

Because of potential savings in prescription drug claims for current and retired city employees enrolled in the city’s self-insurance health care plan, city officials are projecting at least a $150,000 reduction in cost compared to the proposed budget that was released by Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, in October.

If the council includes the $150,000 reduction in the 2020 budget, the proposed tax levy next year will be $67,058 less than it was this year. According to the state Department of Taxation and Finances, the tax levy is the amount raised through property taxes.

The proposed cost savings would also reduce the tax rate by 22 cents to $23.63 per $1,000 assessed property value. According to the state Department of Taxation and Finances, the tax rate is determined by dividing the tax levy by the total taxable assessed value of all property in a jurisdiction.

On Oct. 8, Teresi released the proposed city budget, which included an $82,942, or 0.52%, tax levy increase. The tax rate was proposed to be the same as in 2019 at $23.85 per $1,000 assessed property value.

In other business, the council is also slated to vote on a resolution regarding the Dow Street substation annexation request by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.

On Wednesday, the BPU approved a resolution request that the council start a second annexation process of the substation that is in the village of Falconer, in the town of Ellicott along the border of the city of Jamestown.

The first attempt to annex the substation property ended in August when the Fourth Department Appellate Division Court dismissed the city’s petition on a technicality, stating the city’s original proceeding was untimely.

On Thursday, the Falconer Central Schools, town of Ellicott and village of Falconer released a joint statement opposing the annexation.

The annexation was originally started in January 2017 by the BPU to save money in property tax payments it makes to four entities for the Dow Street substation. The last BPU property tax payment to each of the four entities included $153,262 to the Falconer Central Schools; $73,305 to Chautauqua County; $72,641 to the village of Falconer and $34,681 to the town of Ellicott, a total of $333,889.

If the annexation is approved during the second attempt, the city of Jamestown and Jamestown Public School District each would start to receive an additional tax equivalency payment of around $78,600 a year from the BPU, which totals $157,200. The BPU would save around $177,000 a year in taxes if the annexation was approved.

On Friday during a news conference on his transition team, Eddie Sundquist, mayor-elect, said he has asked members of the council individually to wait until he is in office to make any decision on the possible second annexation attempt. Sundquist said he will again ask the council during Monday’s meeting to hold off on starting annexation proceedings.