PORT JERVIS – Mayor Kelly Decker did not mince words when he talked of the condition of the City of Port Jervis in his annual state of the city address Wednesday night.
Decker: “… correcting our financial woes ourselves …”
Decker, who beginning his second term, began his 40-minute speech by noting that he has asked for state input and guidance for months on a proposal for municipalities like his that abut adjacent states – 132 of them – to allow them to match the lower taxes of those other states to draw more business in.
While he said he has received support from area state elected representatives along with county and local leaders, his many calls to the governor’s office have fallen on deaf ears.
He also criticized the federal government for omitting Port Jervis from interstate highway signs in the Middletown/Wallkill and Newburgh areas.
The city must continue to tighten its financial belt and rebuilt its rainy day fund, Decker said.
“We need to focus on correcting our financial woes ourselves as we see the help from the state and federal level has been little more than rhetoric,” the mayor said. “This will involve facing the hard truth that services provided to our residents come with a price tag and that we are pretty much on our own in addressing those needs for our community for clean drinking, safer roads, a functional sewer system, quick response by the police and fire department in emergency, the replacing of an aging infrastructure.”
Decker said that despite all of the issues before it, the city will have a banner year in 2016 with downtown revitalization and other projects.
