City OKs Budget, Assured State Will Provide Aid To Balance Spending Plan
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It appears as though the state of New York will once again help city officials with additional state aid so they can pass a balanced 2018 budget.
On Monday, city officials announced they have been given reasonable assurance from state officials they will be receiving at least $946,679 in additional state aid so they could pass a balanced spending plan for next year before the Dec. 1 deadline.
Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said during a work session meeting prior to the council voting session, nothing is guaranteed until the state officially takes action, which could take place when they pass the 2018-19 state budget. He said, through a series of conversations with officials from the state Division of Budget, city officials will be receiving the additional state aid because state officials have confidence in the work being done around the city and their resourcefulness to create and implement long-term transformational initiatives.
Teresi said Jamestown isn't the only municipality asking the state for additional assistance. However, he said while others are being told "No," Jamestown is being told "Yes."
During the council voting session meeting, Anthony Dolce, Ward 2 councilman and Finance Committee chairman, said it appears state officials will once again help city officials out with their budget shortfall.
"I don't like waiting until the 11th hour, going hat in hand," Dolce said about the frustration he has felt the last two years when city officials had to wait until the budget vote to be told they will be receiving assistance from the state.
Last year, 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 provide additional state aid. In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo included $1 million in the state budget for the city as part of his Buffalo Billions Phase 2 initiative.
After Dolce introduced an amendment to add the additional state aid to the 2018 budget, Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman, said he would vote for the amendment, but would be voting against passing the budget. He said, with the state facing a $4 billion budget deficit for 2018-19, that it is not fiscally responsible for city officials to count on additional state aid. With Sheldon's vote against the budget and George Spitale, At-Large councilman, being absent, the budget was passed 7-1.
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 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.