Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, is pictured Monday evening during the final 2024 budget presentation of the Jamestown City Council. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget Nov. 27. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Presentations by the Fenton History Center and city Department of Development officially wrapped up the preliminary review of Jamestown’s 2024 budget.

Comments Monday from some council members indicate that at least a few changes to the mayor’s proposed $40.15 million spending plan are forthcoming.

Jane Babinsky, Fenton History Center executive director, said she’s trying to operate the facility as efficiently as possible. She said the building’s boiler, which is only a few years old, required more than $2,000 in repairs in the last year.

Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, asked Babinsky if the Fenton History Center has reached out to anyone regarding the facility’s roof.

Babinsky said $8,000 in emergency repairs stopped the worst leak. In the last month, she said additional cracks in the roof were repaired.

“It’ll get us through the winter,” she said. “So far it’s been holding. With some of the rain storms we’ve had, I have not seen any leaks so far.”

Babinsky described the rubber roof as being “way past its warranty.”

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Fenton Mansion at 67 Washington St. was home to Reuben Fenton, who served as governor of New York and a representative in Congress.

DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

Crystal Surdyk, Jamestown director of development, said her budget request next year of $425,000 represents 1% of the city’s overall budget.

Surdyk acknowledged the “incredible work that my team has done over the past year.”

She added, “We’ve had a challenging year as you all know, but we’ve made it through stronger, more efficient, as a more effective team. The sheer amount of work that the DOD does is astonishing to me, and I just want to say that I’m really proud to lead this team of individuals.”

In 2023, Surdyk said the Department of Development awarded more than 320 Healthy Neighborhoods grants to homeowners through the American Rescue Plan Act as well as 80 ARPA economic development grants to businesses, nonprofit organizations and in support of downtown events.

She said the department has distributed more than $3.7 million in ARPA funds alone into the community.

Regarding staff, Surdyk said the department has four code enforcement officers, two of whom are still in training. When asked how many code enforcement officers she’d like to have if she had an “unlimited budget,” she said six.

The department is in the process of allowing code enforcement officers to issue tickets for violations such as junk and debris, high grass and weeds, infestations, and unregistered vehicles.

City Councilwoman Kim Ecklund, R-At Large, asked Surdyk how the department plans to handle the demolition of derelict properties. In 2022, the council allocated $1 million in ARPA funds to the Chautauqua County Land Bank to assist the city with demolitions.

“We’re going to have to strategize. I mean, that’s what it comes down to,” Surdyk responded. “We’re going to have to be really strategic in the way that we do it.”

She expects the number of properties that will need to come down to increase. That will mean being “intentional with the way that we outline how we’re doing our projects.”

“We’re really going to have to stick to timelines and milestones,” she continued.

Ecklund said she’s not opposed to demolitions; however, she said she’s concerned that the city had to turn to the Land Bank for help because the department was “overtaxed.”

BUDGET AMENDMENTS COMING

Budget presentations by the leaders of the city’s various departments, including the police and fire departments, began last month. Talks included funding “wish list items” such as equipment purchases that are not included in the budget, but funding that department leaders would like to see added.

City Council President Tony Dolce, R-Ward II, said ARPA funds have helped the city provide some of the “wish list items” to some of the departments.

“We’ve been fortunate the last couple of years because of ARPA,” Dolce said. “We’ve been able to take care of some of those. In past years we’ve also been able to utilize some left over contingency money to buy some pieces of equipment or some other things that may not be budgeted.”

Regarding the last month’s budget presentations, Dolce said there was “nothing really glaring that stood out” and that the budgets from the departments largely remained the same.

Dolce did note the salary increases that have been proposed for department heads, some of which he said are “significant.” He said he’s not sure which direction the council will go on the salary bumps.

“The reason that there were some large increases I would say is that it’s becoming more and more difficult to compete with the private sector to keep some of these people in these positions,” Dolce said. “So I think the mayor and the administration felt that in order to keep some of these people, and to be competitive with the private sector, we needed to up their salaries. But, again, the council may want to adjust that a little bit. Some of them were pretty hefty increases.”

Amendments to the proposed 2024 budget have to be filed by this Friday. A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13.

Dolce said Monday, Nov. 20, can be used as another work session meeting for the council to further discuss the spending plan prior to the scheduled vote Nov. 27. At that meeting, amendments to the budget will come up under new business.