After weeks of discussion, leaders in the City of Schenectady have agreed upon a nearly $104 million city budget.
Ahead of a November 1st deadline, the Schenectady City Council passed a municipal budget Wednesday that did away with a 1 percent property tax cut proposed by the council.
A 5 to 2 vote by the all-Democratic council approved a compromise that keeps the tax rate flat for 2023, in line with a budget plan presented by Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy on September 30th.
The agreement keeps in place the mayor’s requested tax levy. Here’s the third-term Democrat speaking to city councilors weeks ago, where he characterized the budget as stable:
“The budget I'm submitting today requests a tax levy of $31,629,000. That is only $12,000 more than what we requested in 2015,” said McCarthy.
Discussion continued over multiple budget workshops, leading to a roadblock when the mayor reportedly threatened to veto a council proposal that would have increased reliance on fund balance while utilizing less federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Wednesday night, City Council Finance Committee Chair John Mootooveren announced a compromise plan, following negotiations with the administration.
“The proposal that was submitted for us to remove ARPA funding and to use general funding, that was reversed this afternoon, so all the items…that were originally funded by ARPA go back to being funded by ARPA, but it’s funding from the 2020-2021 loss of revenue allocation, which was $10.5 million already set aside,” said Mootooveren.
With the adjustment, and the utilization of $2.4 million in ARPA funds for the 2023 compromise plan, Mootooveren said the city still has about $10.1 million in ARPA funding available.
The Democrat also announced the compromise to keep the mayor’s tax levy proposal.
“Based on feedback here now, I think there’s a compromise that we’re not going to reduce taxes by that amount of $316,290, and revert back to the mayor’s proposed budget: $31,629,000,” said Mootooveren.
The accord removes a $52 annual trash fee hike, and halves proposed increases to sewer and water fees.
City Councilor John Polimeni thanked his colleagues for their hard work, but expressed concern about a possible recession and the long-term sustainability of the plan.
“I really question our ability to generate the revenues that we’re talking about. I just don’t think this is a sustainable budget, and for that reason I’m voting no,” said Polimeni.
City Council President Marion Porterfield said while not everyone got what they wanted, she was pleased with the compromise.
“We put some things in, we took some things out, made concessions in different places, so I’m comfortable with this and I vote ‘yes’ on this budget,” said Porterfield.
With the council’s approval, the spending plan was sent to the mayor for his signature.
