On Monday, Joseph Bellitto, city comptroller, presented his first half 2017 budget update to the Jamestown City Council. He said for the Jamestown Police Department, costs are up because they had six retirements already this year with buyout packages totaling more than $378,000. He added they were expecting only one retirement in the police department for 2017, which is why city officials only budgeted $80,000 for retirement buyout packages.

Despite the added costs for having more retirements than expected, Bellitto said the department will benefit from paying lower salaries to the officers the city will hire to replace those that retired. However, he said it does mean that six new people will be added to the city’s health insurance system, which will raise the cost of health care.

Bellitto said during the first half of the year the Jamestown Fire Department’s overtime budget is about $40,000 higher when compared to last year at the half way point. He said part of the reason for the higher overtime budget stems from the string of arsons the city experienced in March.

In April, 19-year-old Jonathan H. Young was charged with being the suspected arsonist behind 12 separate fires that involved vacant and occupied buildings in both Jamestown and Falconer.

P-J file photo by Dennis Phillips

Bellitto said the salt budget for 2017 is higher than city officials would like, having spent 92 percent of the salt budget through the first six months. Bellitto said city officials should hope for a mild last two months of the year.

Health care costs are also up by 6 percent compared to last year through June, Bellitto said. He also said the state Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments has approved granting Jamestown $1.5 million for their new health care subsidy program for Medicare-eligible retirees. He said city officials are awaiting final contract approval from the state attorney general and the comptroller. He added they hope to have the program in place by the fourth financial quarter of the year. However, he said city officials won’t realize the $600,000 in savings through the new health care program in 2017 that they had budgeted for in this year’s budget.

Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said once the state gives their final OK, city officials will be ready to roll out the program. Since last year, city officials had been discussing the new proposal for Medicare-eligible retirees with the state Financial Restructuring Board for Local Governments. In April, the state budget included $1.5 million for the city for the Medicare retiree initiative. Last year, city officials stated they hoped to save $600,000 in 2017 health care costs if 25 to 30 percent of Medicare retirees opted for the new supplement options.

Bellitto said city officials are already starting to work on the 2018 budget. He told council members to expect an extremely difficult budget for next year.