With the pressure to get a new budget in place bearing down upon Troy, Mayor Patrick Madden has devised a new fiscal package that would raise taxes 14.6 percent — about half his initial proposal. Madden proposed it to the City Council Wednesday night in a bid to avoid layoffs and cuts in city services.
The city has been in dire fiscal straits for years and was the subject of a critical audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Back in May two independent auditors painted Troy's financial picture as "critical." "We started off the year with a budget that wasn't balanced in the first place, then we got hit with some very significant increases for 2017," said Madden.
When the mayor released his initial budget proposal with a 28.2 percent property tax increase in October, the first-term Democrat called it a “regrettably harsh consequence for correcting past unrealistic and politically expedient budget practices.” The plan was instantly panned by the City Council, led by Republican Carmella Mantello. "The Mayor clearly recognized that that 28 percent could be cut much much lower. The Troy City Council, we issued a 9.5 percent tax hike which was 19 percent lower than the mayor's tax hike. It did have several reductions of new Hires bumps in salaries, additional overtime and other unnecessary spending. The mayor refused unfortunately to budge from that 28 percent tax hike, he eventually budged to 23. The steering committee of four members refuse to accept the 23 percent tax hike."
Madden is now asking the council to schedule a special meeting on the $69.9 million proposal, which won't hike taxes as much as his original $72.3 million spending plan. "Ideally it would be Monday, so that we can get this squared away and get all the steps in place that we need to have in place so we can get tax bills out on time."
Madden is optimistic the council will override the tax cap and approve his new budget. Council members, led by Mantello, previously put forth proposals raising property taxes 9.5 then 12 percent. " Here we are now beyond the 11th hour, and now the mayor's actually agreeing that that budget could be cut. And it's unfortunate it wasn't done a couple weeks ago, but more importantly we're pleased and I'm pleased that the mayor is submitting a revised budget cutting his original 20 percent tax hike in half to approximately 14 percent. As we know, prior years and this year gotta us into this mess, and it's not going to happen overnight to get us out of this mess, however, you know, this, the steering committee will be reviewing the details. We just received it last night. We need to see who the mayor is proposing to lay off, there are nine layoffs in this new proposed budget. There are also new positions that are being created. I and the steering committee will not support new positions, should there be layoffs. You can't justify that, so that is the sticking point, and we'll certainly express that to the mayor once we get the details. This potentially could be a victory for Troy taxpayers. No council has ever stood up to a mayor's proposal in this fashion, or turned around and didn't override the tax cap when the mayor's budget was out of balance."
To pass the budget, at least six of the nine councilors must vote to override the state tax cap. At last session they were one vote shy.
Madden points out that 75 percent of the budget is personnel-related. Under his newest plan, nine jobs would be cut. Last week he claimed a revised budget with a 23 percent tax hike would eliminate more than 90 positions. "In the beginning, you can make certain changes, reduce staff a certain size, and minimally impact services. At a certain point though, you go over the edge. I describe it as driving a bus off a cliff. And we're right on the edge with this proposal, so it's not a linear exercise. It's not the same number of layoffs for the same percentage reduction in taxes. We're gonna hit the point after this where we really need to start looking at serious layoffs."
Madden says his revised budget "doesn't do the things we set out to do": fix Troy's money troubles, while being mindful of the burden taxes place on residents. "There's nothing random in what we've proposed. There's no across-the-board type cuts. This is the result of careful and painstaking analysis and we're hopeful that the council will recognize it for what it is as a very legitimate document that's based in fact and is the best past forward for the city of Troy that creates the least amount of pain for both the workforce and the taxpayers in the city."
The council has the proposal under review and certifying that it is in line with the city charter.
12.7.16 Memo - City of Troy Proposed 2017 Budget via Scribd
