PLATTSBURGH — Although City of Plattsburgh councilors approved a budget for 2018 two months ago, they are already working on a plan for 2019.
Councilor Michael Kelly (D-Ward 2), who serves as the Common Council’s budget officer, told councilors recently that the city is looking at making another $800,000 in permanent cuts and about $225,000 in temporary cuts in order to keep the tax levy below 2 percent for 2019.
“If we can do that, it would be about a $35 increase per year in taxes for someone with a home valued at $147,000,” Kelly said.
“Otherwise, we could be looking at a 25 percent increase, and that would be about $444 per year, and that is going to be a struggle for some.”
The potential cuts for 2019 would come on the heels of major cuts for the 2018 budget.
BUILDING BALANCE
Last July, the council agreed to a plan offered by Mayor Colin Read for the 2018 budget that eliminated the Engineering, Recreation, Human Resources and Information Technology departments.
Duties of those departments were folded into others, and management functions were reorganized.
The city also transferred its property-assessment duties to Clinton County as part of a county-wide shared-services plan.
The actions by the council led to a budget with a tax-levy increase of 4.35 percent, which exceeded the tax cap of 2.85 percent set by the state.
It also resulted in a projected fund balance of $436,173. Before that, the city had been facing a fund-balance deficit.
MORE WORK COMING
Councilors approved the 2018 budget on Sept. 14, a full four months ahead of their deadline.
The early approval was to give them more time to address the future and to provide the city with a better platform when the mayor and other city officials visited a bond-rating outfit in New York City in October.
The city’s rating was improved somewhat, but more work has to be done, the mayor has said.
Councilor Becky Kasper (D-Ward 5) told Kelly the city needs to move slowly when it comes to more cuts.
“I think we need to move gradually because we don’t know what the impact of the cuts we just made will be,” she said.
Kelly said he believes more cuts might be needed in order to keep the fund balance solid.
“We need to take in more than we spend and continue to get a healthy fund balance,” he said.
GRADUAL PROCESS
Read said he would eventually like to see the city’s fund balance at about 25 percent of the general fund budget, which is about $5.7 million.
“I think 25 percent is a prudent fund balance, especially when you have a self-insured health-care plan like we do,” he said.
“It’s about three months’ worth of cash on hand.”
The city had a fund balance of more than $6 million as recently as 2012.
Read said the council’s five-year budget plan outlines a path to reach that 25 percent fund balance.
“We can’t do it all at once, but we can gradually get back there,” he said.
Councilors will continue to monitor the budget and hold periodic meetings on the 2019 plan.
Email Joe LoTemplio:
jlotemplio@pressrepublican.com
Twitter: @jlotemplio