PEEKSKILL, N.Y. Mayor Mary Foster outlined the common council's proposed 2012 budget at a budget hearing Monday night, but few residents showed up to hear it.
The council has proposed a $35.9 million budget for 2012 with a property tax levy increase of $334,000, as opposed to city manager Rick Finn's initial proposed increase, which was $128,000 more. The change is 2.45 percent increase from the current year, down from the 3.4 percent that Finn's previous budget called for.
While that number exceeds the new state mandated 2 percent tax cap, the amount allowed is affected by both tax levies and PILOT programs, of which the city has many, Foster explained.
Roughly $5.5 million of city revenue is collected as payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT payments, which are paid by certain businesses operating on city owned land, such as Wheelebrator and many low income housing and senior living facilities. Another $13.6 million come from property tax levies from business and residential taxes.
"The tax cap legislation looks at these two numbers as a whole," Foster said. The increase we're suggesting is about half of what the state would have allowed us to do."
Foster said the city would not be touching its fund balance this year, but would likely be using it to pay tax certiorari settlements that she anticipated in the coming year.
In personnel, the city council said it plans on hiring a director of human resources, restoring two police positions that were vacant and restoring a machine equipment operator position that was also left vacant, which restores a position to the sanitation department.
The city also plans to hire a director of public works/city engineer to oversee city projects, Foster said.
"We have a number of significant projects in front of us and having a city engineer on staff that can work with the department of public works we think is very important to the city going forward," Foster said.
The total increase for city departmental costs is 1.86 percent, or $553,316. No management staff will receive salary raises.
Few residents attended the hearing and fewer still chose to speak on the proposed budget. One complaint came from resident George Ondeck, who questioned the role of the citys videographer, Mike Miner, in filming a show spotlighting city businesses.
Foster said the city videographer was paid a flat salary and was not paid extra to tape any of the programs that appear on the city's cable channel.
Resident Tina Bongar asked if the videographer position had gone to bid before the contract was renewed. Foster said city staff talked to other companies but they were not as flexible in their availability as Miner.
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