JAMESTOWN – Members of the Jamestown City Council will begin working on the city’s $33.6 million budget for 2014, which tentatively calls for just over a 2.5 percent property tax increase.
On Monday Oct. 8, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi released the tentative spending plan, which contains $375,000 more in spending than the current year’s budget. The largest increase in spending is due to increases in employee wages and benefits, which will see a total increase of nearly $440,000.
The mayor’s budget contains tax rate increase of 2.54 percent, or 55 cents higher than the current year’s tax rate of $21.63 per thousand assessed value. As for the tax levy, it will increase by 2.68 percent or $386,920 – which is $63,500 BELOW the state mandated tax cap. If there is to be no property tax increase, the city council will have to offset the budget by $361,584. That can be achieved by either cutting spending or finding additional revenue.
Members of the city council will begin budget deliberations Monday night when they meet with the city department heads. The budget session will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Mayor’ conference room on the fourth floor of city hall and is open to the public.
The council has until December 1 to finalize the budget.
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