{"id":30474,"date":"2019-06-20T10:17:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T14:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=30474"},"modified":"2019-06-20T10:23:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T14:23:19","slug":"republican-mayoral-candidates-discuss-their-approach-to-dealing-with-financial-challenges-facing-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/republican-mayoral-candidates-discuss-their-approach-to-dealing-with-financial-challenges-facing-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Mayoral Candidates Discuss Their Approach to Dealing with Financial Challenges Facing the City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andrew Liuzzo (Left) and David Wilfong<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

JAMESTOWN – The Republican Primary<\/strong> for Jamestown mayor will take place next Tuesday, June 25 and is open to all registered Republican voters living in the city.<\/p>\n

Both Jamestown City councilman Andrew Liuzzo<\/strong> and County Legislator David Wilfong<\/strong> are seeking the party’s endorsement and have spent the past couple months sharing their views with residents and explaining why they should be the next mayor of Jamestown. Last week both candidates were on WRFA’s Community Matters program<\/a> and we asked them how they would address the city’s financial challenges if elected.<\/p>\n

For the past three years city government has had to rely on supplemental funding from Albany to help close its budget gap. Most agree this funding won’t continue over an extended period of time, meaning the next leader of Jamestown will have to find other ways to balance the city’s books. That’s especially true if a state appellate court upholds an arbitration ruling with the police union that will retroactively increase their salaries by 2 percent, going back to the start of 2016.<\/p>\n

Wilfong said that no matter who’s elected or what the next mayor plans to do, it’s unlikely much can be done to get the city out of a financial hole without the state will having to step in to help fix things.<\/p>\n

“If the arbitration for the police department does come true, it’s going to put us in a huge financial burden and I believe you’ll probably see some type of control board come to the city of Jamestown. Whether that’s good or bad – I’m sure there’s both sides to that argument – but I embrace that. I think that sooner or later we are going to have to step up and take a look at what we’ve been spending our money on and how we’ve been spending our money. So as the mayor, I’m going to do the best I possibly can to work us through the situation. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better and I bet you I’m the only candidate who says that,” Wilfong said.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the state has already done an investigation of the city’s finances via an audit from the State Comptrollers office<\/a>, released in September 2016. The audit didn’t find any glaring discrepancies or impropriety when it comes to spending, but did indicate city officials adopted budgets that were not structurally balanced, nor did the city have a multiyear financial plan in place. It also said the city did not properly budget for health care expenditures. However, the audit did not see the need for state intervention at the time of its release.<\/p>\n