Jamestown City Council work session (November 18, 2024)
Jamestown City Council is proposing budget amendments that would cut the proposed tax increase for the 2025 budget in half.
Finance Committee Chair Brent Sheldon presented the budget amendments to council members during the work session held Monday night.
He said $63,099 in expense budget changes include include a $10,000 increase to the Police Department‘s gasoline fuel line to bring it to what was budgeted for 2024, a $4,760 increase in longevity in the Comptroller’s budget, a $73,986 increase to the Medicare premium for retirees line, a $23,647 decrease in health insurance expenses, and a $2,000 cut to the Human Rights Commission.
Sheldon said based on Third Quarter Sales Tax revenues, the Finance Committee is recommending adding $87,251 to the revenue line for 2025 sales tax. They’re also proposing using an additional $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds and an additional $125,000 from the fund balance.
Sheldon said all of this lowers the tax levy by $649,150, which brings the tax increase down to 3.61% from the proposed 7.79% in the executive budget.
Council member at large Jeff Russell said under the new figures, a house assessed at $90,000 in the city would roughly see their taxes increase by $75 for the year.
He added that none of the council members want to see taxes go up, “We need to think about our disabled, our elderly, and where someone might be able to absorb an amount.. a tax increase.. there may be someone where that’s going to cause them more hardships. So, obviously, none of us want to see this increase but we can limit the impact overall for the general public.”
Council President Tony Dolce said they’re trying to be as frugal as possible given that 2024’s budget is tight and costs have gone up.
As the deadline to prefile changes to the budget has passed, Council will vote on the amendments under new business on Monday, November 25 which is also when Council will vote on the proposed 2025 City budget.
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