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Updated
December 9, 2007

 

Albany council OKs budget, 9-6
Concerns expressed about overspending

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer
Last updated: 10:18 p.m., Wednesday, November 28, 2007

ALBANY - With only a few slight changes, the Common Council Wednesday night approved Mayor Jerry Jennings' 2008 budget despite fears it is fiscally unsound.

After the 9-6 vote, City Comptroller Thomas Nitido said the $161.7 million plan puts the city on a path toward wiping out its rainy-day funds within a year. In a last-minute letter, the mayor pledged to work with the council on a committee to address its concerns.

The council did reject a proposal to raise parking fines 25 percent. Instead, the council discovered it could add $400,000 in revenue by collecting a $15 surcharge on tickets formerly given to New York state. It also budgeted another $250,000 in revenue from a parking ticket amnesty program.

The budget will cost the average home owner an extra 4 percent - or $114 - in taxes, but that figure varies widely this year as a result of a citywide reassessment.

Some council members expressed concern the mayor is using $7.9 million from the fund balance as well as $1 million in one-time revenue from the city's Industrial Development Agency.

"It's a bad budget. It's fiscally unsound," said Councilman Dominick Calsolaro. In addition to the use of the fund balance, he said, the city also is borrowing $20 million.

"Since 1996, we have more than doubled our debt," he said.

Council member Barbara Smith also opposed the budget.

"It is about how we do sound fiscal management in a time of challenge," she said.

But another alderman, Michael O'Brien, said rejecting the budget is meaningless if the council doesn't approve an alternative by Friday. Otherwise, the mayor's plan would automatically take effect.

"This city is not getting its fair share of state aid, and we have so many exempt properties," he said. "I do think we should be treated differently."

Council President Pro Tempore Richard Conti said it was his first time opposing a budget.

"We always seem to adopt a budget and then we overspend," he said. "We have to send a message to department heads and commissioners there is a real need for financial management."

In a letter sent to Conti Wednesday, Jennings called for a joint committee to address council members' worries about expenses outpacing revenue.

"These council members are justifiably concerned about how we will deal with these challenges for future budgets," he said. "Obviously, unless new revenues are identified, expenditures for service and personnel will have to be reduced."

But Jennings continued to stress getting more state aid as a solution to the city's woes.

"I will ask this committee to join me in my ongoing efforts to obtain additional State revenue sharing and increased State PILOT payments," the mayor wrote. "For too long, Albany has been treated inequitably in per capita State aid, while at the same time has had far too much of its property exempt from taxation because of State ownership."

Some council members said they support the push for more state aid, but it can't be the only solution to the city's financial straits.

"I'm all for more state revenue," Conti said. "I don't think the solution to all our problems is to get more state revenue."

All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

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