Nothing has changed during two months of deliberations on the proposed 2018 city budget.

On Oct. 10, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi released his executive budget, which included a $946,679 deficit. During the past two months, Jamestown City Council has met with several department leaders to learn more about their needs in order to operate in the coming year.

Despite hearing the need for new equipment and vehicles from the city’s public works and parks director, the potential need to improve facilities for the Jamestown Fire Department and several request to restore funding to the James Prendergast Library, the council hasn’t made any amendments to the proposed spending plan, which they are expected to vote on Monday.

According to Anthony Dolce, Ward 2 councilman and Finance Committee chairman, the council is waiting to see if they will receive funding assistance from state officials once again. Last year, city officials received word from the state prior to approving the 2017 budget that they would be receiving additional state aid to balance their budget.

The council had an $824,926 deficit prior to approving this year’s spending plan, which they did on the assurance that state officials would bail them out if they continued to work on long-term transformative initiatives that are aimed at lowering costs and increasing revenues. In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo included $1 million in the state budget for the city as part of his Buffalo Billions Phase 2 initiative.

This year, the council is looking at a larger deficit with the hopes again that they will receive state funding assistance in order to pass a balance budget. Dolce said city officials have been assured they will know prior to voting on the budget Monday if they will be receiving any additional funding from the state.

“At that point, we will need to make the hard decisions,” Dolce said during the budget public hearing Nov. 20.

The 2018 executive budget also included a proposed tax levy increase of $167,712, or 1.1 percent. With the tax levy increase, the city has once again hit its constitutional tax limit of $16,011,982. The constitutional tax limit is the amount of money a municipality can ask its property taxpayers to provide compared to the total assessed property value in the community. The city’s constitutional tax limit is 2 percent of the five-year average of the total assessed property value in the community.

The total budget is $35,724,391, which is a $700,897, or 2 percent, increase. The tax rate will be $23.98 per $1,000 assessed property value, which is a 21-cent increase.

Under the executive budget, next year’s spending plan is under the state’s property tax cap. By being under the tax cap, residential homeowners will receive a rebate check for the increase in taxes. In 2015, the state’s tax freeze program started, which provides a tax increase rebate check to residential homeowners who live in a municipality where taxes increase, but the hike is below the tax cap.

To view the 2018 executive budget memo, visit the city’s website at jamestownny.net. To view a copy of the budget, visit the offices of the city clerk or mayor at the Jamestown Municipal Building or visit the James Prendergast Library, located at 509 Cherry St.

The council meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. in City Council’s chambers located on the second floor of the Jamestown Municipal Building, located at 200 E. Third St.