POUGHKEEPSIE – Mayor Robert Rolison will present his proposed city budget for next year on Friday. The spending plan must eradicate a $4 million cash shortfall, something he had nothing to do with creating, but must work to do away with before the end of the year.
The property tax levy went up about seven percent with the adopted 2016 budget.
For 2017, Rolison said nothing is off the table including layoffs and double-digit property tax hikes.
“That is where we are going to start; however, what I have said to the city council and what I have said to our administration is that we are going to work with the city council right up to the deadline of having to submit this budget on the statutory requirement by the end of the year to make additional adjustments,” Rolison said. “Hopefully that will be with additional revenues. We are working with the state on a couple of proposals.”
The mayor said with services cut to the barebones already, cuts may come down to “people.”
There is a silver lining to some degree with his announcement on Monday that fees for water, sewer and sanitation will not increase in the 2017 budget. Rolison said last year’s spending plan included large increases in those fees – water went up almost 25 percent and sewer rate rose by over 33 percent. Sanitation rose by almost nine percent.
The proposed Newburgh city budget will be unveiled tonight. One week
ago it faced a $300,000 cash shortfall.
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