Comptroller Ryan Thompson presents budget update to City Council Finance Committee

The City of Jamestown finished 2021 with a $1.7 million surplus.

Comptroller Ryan Thompson presented on year end financials for 2021 to Jamestown City Council members Monday night at their work session.

He said budgeted revenues for 2021 were $35,124,000 with budgeted expenditures at $35,560,000 for an anticipated deficit of $436,000, “The actual results, here at the bottom, you can see our revenues were $37,358,000; which was $2.2 million above the original budget. And then from an expenditure standpoint, we were pretty much flat at $35.6 million, $69,000 higher than what was originally budgeted, so pretty flat there. So from that standpoint, we end up with a surplus of $1.7 million.”

Thompson cited sales tax revenues of $7.96 million being 18.5% over budget, state aid was over budget by $114,456 or 2.6%, state highway aid over budget by $1 million, and health and dental insurance under budget by $1 million dollars as the highlights.

He said parking meters, lots, and parking violations revenues were down 42%, or $197,000, from what was budgeted. Thompson said Police and Fire salaries were over budget $300,000 due to contract raises.

Thompson said the city’s fund balance is now at $7.7 million dollars with the unassigned fund balance at $5.7 million dollars, “The New York State GFOA, Government Finance Officers Association, they recommend that you have your unassigned fund balance at two months of expenditures and that’s for us about $6.4 million. So we’re not quite there yet, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction. The only other caveat I want to mention on this is we have received over the last six or seven years an additional $1 million from New York State. Without that, we wouldn’t have the fund balance that we have now.”

Thompson said the city did not receive that $1 million from the state in 2021.

Thompson said there haven’t been any surprises for the first quarter financials for 2022. He said the Board of Public Utilities‘ PILOT revenues for electric, water, sewer, and solid waste are up 3% from budget. He said parking lots and ramps are still not generating enough revenue to cover expenses with net losses for the first three months of 2022 coming in at $9,622.

Thompson said with the new EMS billing in the fire department, the city is running ahead of budget, “We’ve already received 68% of what we budgeted in 2022. For the first four months, we’re averaging about $28,000 a month. And if you annualize that out, that’s roughly $335,000. We only budgeted $164,000, so that’s certainly a plus there. We could end up $171,000 over budget.”

Thompson said he expects to receive the first quarter sales tax payment this week and will report on that at the May 16 work session.

On the expenditure side, he said he expects gas expenses to be $130 to 150-thousand dollars over budget for the year, which he hopes will be offset by sales tax revenues. Thompson added that road salt expenses are in line with what had been expended at this time in the last two years and the city should be in good shape for the fall-winter season.

Jamestown City Council

Jamestown City Council overrode two budget vetoes related to increasing wages for two management positions and funding for the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency in a special meeting Monday night.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund recommended to Mayor Eddie Sundquist that a committee be established to review all salaries. Sundquist said the salary commission is scheduled to be established in 2022 to review elected and appointed position salaries.

Other vetoes presented by Mayor Sundquist including restoring $6,000 to the Humans Right’s Commission, over $9,000 for the Mayor’s travel, education and stationary budget; and $10,000 for building maintenance failed to receive the six votes needed in order be overridden by Council.

Council member at large Jeff Russell said before the vote to override the restoration of funding to the HRC that he hasn’t found where the city has funded a line item for citizen boards and commissions, “I think about the Veterans Commission or the Planning Commission and there are no other commissions that are having monies that allocated to them. If this passes tonight then I’m recommending that these commissions step forward and also request funding. I feel like there’s some favoritism going on, or some of the good ol’ boy network going on with this strictly picking one commission out and funding that commission. I don’t think is right and I can’t support that.”

Council President Tony Dolce said he wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the votes given that some of the amendments that were vetoed had only passed with a simple majority of votes before on budget night.

He added that because council couldn’t override the veto regarding funding the HRC, it sets a precedence, “I had asked the Mayor if they needed money for a particular event that they were planning that they put down in writing how much specifically they’d need. And that they could come back to and ask for money be allocated, but just to give a carte blanche $6,000 I think was the wrong move. But again, you know, that’s people’s independent vote on that.”

Dolce said a budget amendment will be presented at Council’s voting session on December 27 in order to allocate the $25,950 in funds that were restored by the Mayor’s vetoes, “We’ll just have to make that adjustment and find somewhere in the budget, whether it be sales tax, whether it be it insurance, other areas where you pull from there. I would assume it’ll pass. It’ll have to. We don’t have a choice.”

Only a simple majority is needed to pass the budget amendment.

Council also voted to amend the appointment of City Court Judge George Panebianco to a ten year term.

Council member Brent Sheldon voted no on the resolution, citing the inequity in one city court judge being able to be appointed for a 10-year term while the other judge must run for election for their term, “New York State has had seven years to correct this aberration where we have an appointed position for ten years. And they have not. Our Assemblyman Andrew Goodell has fought for this and has not been successful. I cannot support appointing someone to a ten-year position.”

Council President Dolce said the City was informed by the state that Panebianco had to be appointed not just to fill the unexpired term of City Court Judge Fred Larson but to also be appointed to his own 10-year term.

Jamestown City Council

Six of the vetoes by Sundquist are to restore budget cuts or eliminations made by Council, including
– $18,538 for increased wages for the City Clerk and City Comptroller management positions,
-$6,000 to the Jamestown Human Right’s Commission for a diversity festival
– $9,950 in the Mayor’s travel, education and stationary budget
– $10,000 to the building maintenance budget
– and $10,000 to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency

Sundquist said in his veto statement that the 7th veto of the $643,568 dollar fund balance is so that Council may amend the budget by pulling more money from the fund balance to cover any vetoes they do not override.

If council choose not to override any vetoes, the 2022 budget would increase by $71,445 dollars. The tax levy, which was set by Council in their budget vote, would not be affected.

The special voting session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist about the vetoes he issued for the 2022 City Budget as well as the Refugee Resettlement discussion that was held last week, and more.

Eddie Sundquist

Jamestown City Council

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist has issued seven vetoes in the amount of $71,445 dollars in regards to the 2022 Budget passed by City Council last week.

Six of the vetoes are to restore budget cuts or eliminations made by Council. Sundquist’s vetoes would restore
– $18,538 for increased wages for the City Clerk and City Comptroller management positions,
-$6,000 to the Jamestown Human Right’s Commission for a diversity festival
– $9,950 in the Mayor’s travel, education and stationary budget
– $10,000 to the building maintenance budget
– and $10,000 to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency
– and a veto of the $643,568 dollar fund balance.

Sundquist said in his veto statement that the latter is so that Council may amend the budget by pulling more money from the fund balance to cover any vetoes they do not override.

If council chose not to override any vetoes, the 2022 budget would increase by $71,445 dollars.

Finance Committee Chair and Council member at large Kim Ecklund reminded fellow council members that they passed a budget 9 to 0 and have set the tax levy, “You can vote up, you can vote down, I’m not telling you how to vote, but for everything we add back in we have to take it out somewhere else. And to take it out of contingency, as the Finance Chair, or somewhere like that right now is foolish cause we don’t know what we’ll be facing next year and I will go on the record saying that. We have nothing in contingency right now this year, so it’s unprecedented to take it out this early to make these types of amendments.”

Council will hold a special voting session at 6:30 p.m., Monday, December 13 to vote on overriding any of the vetoes issued.

Around 20 amendments were adopted that reduced the amount taken from the fund balance from $1.3 million to $643,568. Those amendments included increasing expected revenues for sales tax by $172,780, limiting management salaries to a 2.5% increase for a $43,340 savings, and cutting $8,380 dollars budgeted for the Human Rights Commission. Four council members, including Regina Brackman, Grant Olson, Tom Nelson, and Tamu Graham-Reinhardt voted against the $6,000 cut to the HRC. The funding had been requested for outreach work and a diversity festival.

A resolution on allocating $3.7 million dollars in lost revenue from the American Rescue Plan Act Local Recovery funds for the 2022 Capital Improvement Program also was tabled.

Council President Tony Dolce said the Council will act on the American Rescue Plan funds at its December meeting and plans to address concerns raised by members of the public about how public safety is funded, “And increasing the amount of funding for different pieces of equipment, different things in the police department particularly, and the fire department. And those things will also be discussed and probably part of the ARPA or American Recovery funds as we move forward.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said he wished Council had acted on the Capital Improvement Program, “Which do provide a lot of support for police, our fire, and all of our other departments. You know, by punting it to the next month they only take us longer to work on these projects. We’ll evaluate each one, although I do anticipate some vetoes will be on the way.”

Sundquist has until next Monday, or 5 business days, to submit any vetoes he may have. He said of the amendments made by Council to the budget, he was disappointed in the cut to the Human Rights Commission, “And that commission has been working hard to really to provide some understanding and diversity to the city. So to provide a small amount of funding for them to do a festival is really sad that the council took that away.”

He also was not happy with the cut to the Mayor’s travel budget as wells as a $10,000 cut to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency.

The tax rate remains at $23.69 per $1,000 assessed property value.

A local law to opt out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and consumption establishments was automatically tabled. It will be discussed at the December Council meetings.

Jamestown City Council

The opt out law was filed under new business and will likely be tabled in order for it to be discussed at December’s council work sessions. A local law requires a public hearing before it can be brought forth for a vote.

Councilmember Brent Sheldon had stated at the October 4th work session that a lot of neighboring communities have voted to opt-out of allowing cannabis dispensaries and on-site consumption locations. He said the state has not come out with promised regulations yet which makes it difficult for municipalities to decide what to do, “Also, with part of the law if you don’t opt out now, you’re opting in and you can’t opt out later and that just does not make sense to me. If you have problems in the future, you should be able to opt out. So I think this is something we need to discuss as a full body, as a full council, look into it more, see if there’s things happening at the state level. The new Governor has appointed several people to the Commission but the rules still have not been promulgated at this point.”

In regards to the city budget, Council members are expected to bring budget amendments to the floor as part of the approval process. Finance Chair Kim Ecklund stated at the budget public hearing on November 19th that only the general fund will be voted on tonight.

That said, a resolution was pre-filed to approve $3.7 million in lost revenue from the American Rescue Plan Act Local Recovery funds for the 2022 Capital Improvement Program.

Under the City Charter, Council must approve a budget by December 1st or the proposed Executive Budget automatically goes into effect for the next year.

A work session will be held at 7pm in the Third Floor Conference Room with the voting session taking place at 7:30pm in Council Chambers on the second floor. Both are open to the public and will be streamed online.

Jamestown resident Doug Champ said he has a problem with the Jamestown Police Department only receiving $177,206 dollars for one police car and new radios under American Rescue Plan lost recovery funds, “If I haven’t seen a budget that wants to defund the Police Department, this is the budget that does that. And my question is why? Why when the ARP fund is supposed to be for public safety, public health, and economic recovery and we have these auxiliary projects as I mentioned before like a dog park and frisbee golf and whatever else you want to call this quote ‘possible projects.”

Kendall Club PBA President Sam Piazza spoke, mentioning how Police Chief Tim Jackson was asked to submit a wish list for capital projects that included five cars, virtual reality training, updating the shooting range, trauma kits, and how almost none of it was funded, “My question is, without these funds from the American Rescue Plan were we not going to budget anything for the Police Department? And you know, Doug kind of.. you know nobody came out and said we’re going to defund the Police Department but where is the funding for the Police Department? The guys and girls that come to work every day downstairs need the equipment to make sure they do their job safely.”

Jamestown resident and former City Council member Tamara Dickey said she is thankful for the Jamestown Police Department following an incident that had happened on 10th Street this summer, “We’ve got to give the Police officers the resources, both human and capital and system resources, that they need to make sure that they have the intelligence and they have the equipment and the weapons that they need.”

Doug Champ also made a recommendation that Council consider changing the City Charter so that the public hearing on the budget always occurs on the Monday before Thanksgiving so that it’s on the same day that council typically meets and is easier for the public to attend.

Finance Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund said council members are working with the city’s Finance department on separating out the general fund and American Rescue Plan monies. She said the plan is for Council to just vote on the general fund budget on Monday, November 29th.

Council President Tony Dolce said Council will be looking at public safety concerns more under the American Rescue Plan funding, “You know there have also been people that have asked us about where those funds are going to go and when we’re going to put that out there. We will be shortly after the budget is done putting out a vote on the actual categories, the amount, and then as different projects come up or equipment purchases whatever then we would be voting on them piece by piece, a la carte.”

Dolce said at this point City Council will have to bring amendments to the floor to be voted on next Monday.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with Jamestown resident Doug Champ on the City Budget and the Board of Public Utilities.

Doug Champ

The hearing will be on Mayor Eddie Sundquist‘s $38.93 million spending plan as was presented on October 8th.

The budget includes no tax increase or decrease, 7 new positions, and the funding of 44 capital projects.
The hearing will be in the City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall and is open to the public.

City Council has until December 1st to pass any amendments to the budget or to approve it as it currently stands. Their next meeting as of news time is the voting session scheduled for Monday, November 29th.