Thursday, May 10, 2012

Common Council To Vote On Budget Tonight

The Common Council will hold a special meeting tonight, to discuss and vote on the city's budget for the fiscal year beginning this July 1st. The mayor's proposed budget is for $153.7M.

The Republican caucus appears to support most of the controversial decisions by the Mayor, including the flat-funding of education and the reduction in contribution to the pension fund.

The single biggest proposed change from the Mayor's budget is to set aside $600,000 in a fund to pay for a state-mandated property revaluation. The revaluation costs about $1M, it was delayed to 2013 as a result of action by State legislators. The Republicans support the hiring of a city grant-writer, but propose that the funding only start 6 months into the year, allowing time for advertising and hiring. They also add a Parks Maintainer (annual salary $45,000) to improve upkeep of the parks, increase funding for Emergency Management, and reduce spending on the Remington Rand building by $200k.

On balance, the Republican caucus modifications do not lead to a dramatic change in the budget total, reducing it by $58,089.

The Council meeting will begin immediately after a community meeting that starts at 7PM, in Council Chambers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So the republicans tried to raise my taxes?? Normal

Anonymous said...

NO the OPPOSITE! THE DEMOCRATS ARE raising your taxes - Councilwomen Kleckowski and Salafia who are Republican tried to lower them! Get the that all republicans are bad out out of your head!

Anonymous said...

Please make it clear that the DEMOCRATS want MORE taxes not Republicans who presented a plan to lower spending!!!