Schenectady City Councilors are facing a tight deadline to pass Mayor Gary McCarthy's proposed budget.
A few sticking points among the all-Democrat council cropped up when members last met to vote on Democratic Mayor Gary McCarthy's $111 million 2024 spending plan. One involves tax rates proposed by McCarthy.
"It looks for small increases in our trash fee, our water and sewer fees. And it holds the tax levy steady at $12.98 per thousand," McCarthy said.
Councilor John Mootooveren went on record saying he won't support a budget that carries a tax hike. In lieu of McCarthy's proposal to raise sewer fees, Mootooveren, during an October 20th council meeting, had proposed sending $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to Schenectady’s sewer fund. The following Tuesday, McCarthy told the council ARPA money cannot be used for tax reductions.
Another sticking point involves shifting money allocated for vacant city positions to defray overtime pay for police and firefighters. And the possibility of tapping into those same ARPA funds.
Councilor Doreen Ditoro: "I guess it all kind of hinges on basically, the public safety overtime, which four members of the council weren't willing to give,” said Councilor Doreen Ditoro. “And then at the last meeting, they negotiated a little bit and said they'd give back about 30% of it. But now they're looking to use this ARPA funding towards overtime. So I don't believe that it can be used moving forward. I mean, the money was put out there for, you know, the devastation that so many people suffered during the pandemic. So, you know, moving forward with non-related COVID matters, I wouldn't think would be acceptable use of the funding," said Ditoro.
Mootooveren, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, is out of the country and not available for comment.
Council President Marion Porterfield says what has happened so far is "not so much about trying to find a way to spend the ARPA money as much as it is trying to find funds so that we can balance our budget."
"So we're still looking at ways to pass a budget that does not pass a tax increase, because essentially, what it boils down to is even though we've called them fees in the past, the mayor at the meeting on Tuesday, identified them as taxes. So what we're trying to do is to pass a budget that does not give a tax increase to our residents," Porterfield said.
Ditoro says the panel had hoped to "go over things" in an attempt to reach common ground before October 31st. "They wanted a decision from our accountants and from obviously, the federal government. And we haven't heard anything since," said Ditoro.
Porterfield says the panel will press on. "It's not an option, whether we can or can't, we must have the budget. We're like the state, we have to pass the budget. So it's not optional that we can't pass a budget. We just have to. Otherwise, if you don't pass the budget, at least by the end of the year, then the city shuts down because you don't have a budget to run off of. So you must pass the budget," Porterfield said.
An emergency council meeting is set for Tuesday, a day before the budget vote deadline. Again, Ditoro: "I would not be in favor of it. And I would not be voting for it as it's presented to me now, with the adjustments that they made to the mayor's budget and the decrease in public safety overtime. At this point, I guess we kind of just have to wait until, you know, four hours into the night of the 31st to see where we are at that point,” said Ditoro.
Tuesday's meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at city hall.
