JAMESTOWN – The city of Jamestown finished 2017 with a surplus.
City comptroller Joe Bellitto presented the final, unaudited numbers for 2017 to the city council during Monday night’s work session.
According to Bellitto, the city finished the year with $35,856,711, about $833,217 over the original adopted budget. In addition, total expenditures for the year were $377,513 under the original $35,023,449 that was budget. As a result, the city saw a net surplus of $1,210,731.
Bellitto added that it was the city’s first surplus budget since 2010.
Bellitto also said that at the end of 2017, the city had $1.85 million in unassigned fund balance, which increased from $732,445 at the end of 2016.
Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi credited the city department heads and staff for doing their best to stay within budget. he also cautioned that while it’s positive news to finish the year with a surplus, it doesn’t mean the city’s financial challenges are now over.
Bellitto said it’s recommended that a budget the size of Jamestown’s should have $5.95 million in unrestricted fund balance, not the $1.85 million it had at the end of 2017. He also noted that there are several challenges still facing the city, including:
- The city is at 100 percent of its constitutional tax limit;
- Miscellaneous revenues for the city remain flat;
- Future health care costs liability is estimated to be $111 million;
- NYS Retirement costs comprise almost 10 percent of the total city budget ($3.1 million);
- Multi-million dollar capitol equipment and projects requests remain unfunded;
- and several unions continue to work under expired contracts.
“While the news from 2017 was positive and encouraging overall, we certainly are not where we want and need to be and we still have a long ways to go,” Teresi told WRFA. “It’s not the time to start throwing around money that we really don’t have.”
Leave a Reply