The City Council will vote Monday on Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s vetoes regarding the 2023 budget the council approved at last month’s voting session. Pictured, from left, are Deputy Comptroller Catherine Maycock, Mayor Eddie Sundquist, City Council President Anthony Dolce, R-Ward II, and Deputy Fire Chief Matthew Coon. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

The Jamestown City Council will vote on the mayor’s vetoes to the city’s 2023 budget just prior to Monday’s work session meeting.

Sundquist this week notified City Council members of his budget vetoes regarding the 2023 general fund budget.

The mayor vetoed the City Council’s reduction of the Mayor’s Office travel and education budget; the reduction of funding for engineering supplies; the reduction of funding for the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency; the council’s increase in projected sales tax revenue; and the appropriated fund balance.

While Sundquist issued vetoes on multiple points in the 2023 budget, he also proposed an amendment as an alternative to what he called “a full council veto override.” The amendment would remove $52,964.70 in related interest payments for the 2010A bond payment that the City Council removed from the 2023 budget.

Through his proposed amendment, Sundquist said the City Council could reduce the sales tax revenue projection, add the bond savings, and “add in” the vetoed amendments. Sundquist believes his proposed amendment would result in a “cost neutral position” that would not require any additional money to be allocated from the fund balance.

‘A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED’

Finance Committee Chairwoman Kim Ecklund, R-At Large, said she was “not at all surprised” by Sundquist’s vetoes.

“The charter allows the process,” she said. “The mayor introduces a project, council makes amendments and the process allows that the mayor can veto and then the council can either allow the vetoes and do nothing or override them, whatever the choice may be. It’s a process. He has a right to veto just as much as I have a right to go up there and state why I firmly believe that these should stick.”

Ecklund explained the city charter was written with careful consideration of the budget process. She said that while there are times city officials may have to “agree to disagree,” she is a fan of how the budget process is structured as well as the mayor’s right to issue vetoes.

While Ecklund respects the budget process and the mayor’s right to issue vetoes, she expressed disappointment over this year’s vetoes.

“I’m honestly a little disappointed that we’re having to have vetoes and a special meeting for a total of roughly $15,000,” she said. “I understand the stance people are making but in a budget of $39 million, it just doesn’t seem right to me right now. That’s my personal opinion. It just seems very political in nature. For $15,000, if we miss that, that’s the purpose of an over and under and a contingency at the end of the year.”

While Ecklund said Sundquist can “justify” why the $15,100 should be restored to the 2023 budget, she indicated that she typically remains committed to the budget she voted on. She added that she hopes her fellow City Council members will take into consideration not only the vetoes presented by Sundquist, but also the fact that the full council voted in favor of the 27 amendments that were added to the budget, with the exception of one “no” vote on a particular line item.

“I don’t ask people how they’re going to vote,” she said. “I never have, and I never will. It’s their choice. They all supported that in the initial budget, so it’s up to them what they decide to do on an override.”

Ecklund explained that multiple budgets had to be cut in order to offset the balance in the 2023 budget. As an example, she said the engineering expenses budget line that Sundquist vetoed was cut because the 2023 budget included a $13,000 increase over 2022’s budget. Ecklund said “logical” cuts like this had to be made to correct the mistakes in the 2023 executive budget.

“As I said at the voting session, we had to find almost $500,000 in corrections in the budget for mistakes that were made. Everybody had to feel a little pinch in my opinion. There were departments that asked for things that we did not put back in the budget because we just couldn’t. We had to offset that balance.”

Regarding Monday’s vote on the mayor’s vetoes, Ecklund said $15,000 will not “make or break” the 2023 budget, but could result in additional money being taken out of the city’s fund balance.

If each of the vetoes are overridden, the 2023 budget will remain just as the council voted in November. If any of the vetoes are not overridden, an additional amendment will have to be passed to adjust the utilization of the fund balance to cover any potential increase in budget line items.

“We have to make the budget whole, so we’re going to have to pull money out of the fund balance to make it whole,” Ecklund said. “The only place we can offset any increase is to come from the fund balance. Ultimately, there will be no change to the bottom line. There will be no taxpayer increase.”

MOVING FORWARD

Sundquist told The Post-Journal his biggest concern is the $75,000 increase in the city’s sales tax project for 2023. He said it would be “pretty concerning” to have the city rely upon a sales tax increase in 2023 of more than 6%.

“We are forecasting that we’ll probably just make our budgeted amount for this year, so to say that we’re going to make almost 7% more next year on sales tax, I think, is not a conservative way to budget,” he said. “I completely understand why the City Council decided to go forward with that; however, I do not want to set us up for a position of failure.”

Sundquist explained his veto regarding engineering supplies is due to what he described as a “record amount” of streetscape projects in Jamestown. He said that particular budget line covers the cost of consulting agreement, blueprints and other items for the Public Works Department.

“I think any reduction in that line doesn’t make sense because with the federal funding that we see the state has received as well as the safe zone funding, we are anticipating increased road projects until 2026,” he said.

Regarding his veto of the City Council’s reduction to the Mayor’s Office travel and education, he said the city administration is only asking the City Council to restore the travel budget to the amount budgeted in 2022. During Monday’s City Council meeting, Sundquist said the majority of travel expenses are related to conferences with the New York Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities.

Sundquist said his veto of the City Council’s reduction to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency is due to the city’s mission to handle housing concerns.

“The City Council and I have a shared vision that we’re able to continue to tackle housing issues, and it’s hard to do when we’ve seen a cut in that line item each year for the past few years,” he said. “Any reduction to our agency that directly handles code enforcement, housing and development really hurts and hampers the work that we do.”

After detailing the reasoning for his budget vetoes, Sundquist said he proposed an amendment to the City Council in order to offer an alternative solution as part of the “collaborative process” of the annual budget.

As a result of the City Council’s amendments to the 2023 budget, Sundquist said a bond payment was removed that could also allow the city to remove an additional $52,964.70 in interest payments that would save additional money.

“In an effort to try to work through those vetoes, my recommendation to council would be let’s meet somewhere in the middle on the sales tax, let’s fund those other veto items for the departments that were cut,” he said. “In doing so, we can utilize this additional funding that we’ve found to basically make the vetoes neutral. We wouldn’t have to add any more to the fund balance, we would keep it exactly the same as what the council passed. We’d be able to still fund some of the additional departments. At the end of the day, both the City Council and the administration can walk away knowing we’ve worked through this process and feel comfortable moving forward.”