Council Approves More Amendments To 2024 City Budget
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The Jamestown City Council on Monday approved two more amendments to the 2024 budget to help shore up a $1.59 million shortfall before tax bills are sent out to residents.
Both changes were in regard to Consolidated Highway Improvement Program aid, commonly known as CHIPS, that provides state funds to municipalities to support the construction and repair of highways, bridges, highway-railroad crossings, and other facilities.
A review by Joe Bellitto, former city comptroller, found a projected shortfall of nearly $1.6 million in the CHIPS line in the 2024 budget. The council voted to decrease $500,000 earmarked for housing demolitions, as well as $100,000 in street maintenance; $50,000 in parks capital; $36,000 summer help; $50,000 in snow removal; and $200,000 in DPW capital, to offset $936,000 of the shortfall.
Councilwoman Kim Ecklund, R-At-Large, said $504,000 will be taken from the city's fund balance, with an additional $150,000 taken from a sidewalk repair program, to cover the balance of the budget shortfall.
Ecklund, who will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, said further changes to the 2024 budget will come after the first of the year. Those amendments, she said, may be to health and dental insurance and retirement costs for city employees.
In his review of the 2024 general fund budget, Bellitto believes the $2.5 million in anticipated contributions employees and retirees will pay toward their health and dental insurance premiums in 2023 and 2024 are overstated by about $450,000.
"As you know, health insurance costs tend to increase year after year," Bellitto said in a memo provided to the City Council. "Therefore, city employees and retirees are paying a percentage of an artificially low 2021 premium-equivalent and the city, and its taxpayers, are paying all of the increased costs since 2022. I suggest this be reviewed."
A separate review by the mayor's budget team found that the city's health care expenditures were in line with the budgeted amount.
Regarding retirements, Bellitto noted a "major error" in that the 2024 budget was prepared using the 2023 pension payments the city will pay to the retirement system. He alluded to salary increases for city employees and "significant increases" in the retirement rates in 2024 over 2023 that were ignored.
Further, Bellitto believes the 2024 budgeted line items for retirement payments are underfunded by at least $600,000 for police and fire and $100,000 for other employees.
In response, the budget team said, "We believe retirement amounts are significantly overestimated ... in his memo. Our retirement estimates are based on current payments and estimated salary increases in the 2024 budget."
A third, much smaller, amendment in the amount of $28,000 to the Parks Department also was approved Monday.
COUNTY BUDGET QUESTION
Ecklund said their review did turn up questions over the $290 million county budget, which lawmakers approved in October.
"The county numbers claim there was no tax increase, but the numbers we got from the county showed a little bit of a tax increase," she said of the tax rate.
She said County Executive PJ Wendel was contacted Monday regarding the possible discrepancy that might appear on tax bills for city residents.
"He is going to work with Joe Bellitto and address that first thing in the morning," Ecklund said.
Bellitto is a member of Ecklund's transition team for mayor.