Sam Teresi
JAMESTOWN – Mayor Sam Teresi says he doesn’t expect the current budget challenges in Albany to have in impact on the city of Jamestown and its need for supplemental state aid.
Reports out of Albany say state lawmakers are wrestling with a $176 Billion budget that could be short on revenue by about $2.5 Billion. Included in the budget proposal that was presented by the Governor in January is $1 million in additional aid to the city of Jamestown so it can balance its own 2019 budget.
Because the city has reached its constitutional taxing limit it is unable to rely on tax increases in order to close the budget gap.
Mayor Teresi was a guest this week on WRFA’s Community Matters program and we asked him if there is any risk of the funding being cut as part of the state budget reconciliation process. He said that even though he has heard from anything in the legislature, he doubts the money aid earmarked for the city is at risk of being removed.
“We haven’t heard from leaders of either side of the aisle in either of the houses that the million dollars in this $176 Billion state budget, where they have to close a $2.5 billion deficit, is on anybody’s radar screen as a big step in closing that deficit,” Teresi said.
If the city does get the $1 million in additional state aid from Albany, it will mark the third year in a row that Jamestown has relied on the state to close a spending gap in its annual operating budget. It also received $1 million for the 2018 budget and an estimated $850,000 in the 2017 budget. Prior to that the city had relied on revenue sharing from its utility operations to close spending gaps in the operating budget for the 2014, 2015, and 2016 budgets.
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