POUGHKEEPSIE – The Poughkeepsie Common Council held a virtual meeting on Monday night to discuss Mayor Rob Rolison’s $91 million spending plan for 2021. All department heads attended the meeting although most were not quizzed by lawmakers.
In Rolison’s first budget, in 2017, he was forced to ask the council to raise taxes 16.5 percent, and they agreed. This year, Rolison said, his administration began crafting the 2021 budget just as the pandemic hit the city in March. “Our revenues were plummeting,” Rolison told the members of the council that were present. Four of the nine lawmakers were absent from the meeting.
Finance Commissioner Dr. Brian Martinez noted that Poughkeepsie has a negative fund balance while area cities of Kingston, Beacon, and Newburgh have between $10 -$11 million available for use. Those cities are all proposing transferring money from their fund balances to the general fund to offset pandemic related revenue shortfalls.
Rolison’s preliminary budget is 1.9 percent more than the 2020 budget. “It keeps spending in check for 2021,” he said.
“Police, Fire, and Department of Public Works are the three core functions that have the largest impact on people every day in the City of Poughkeepsie,” and his budget maintains those services.
DPW accounts for 11.95 percent of the proposal while the police account for 27.5 percent of the plan and the fire department is slated to consume 11.6 percent of the money.
Councilman Evan Menist questioned overtime budgeting for the fire department and City Administrator Marc Nelson indicated that the department will be promoting two lieutenants in 2021, which will call for the hiring of two new firefighters, and possibly reducing overtime spending. The contract between the city and the firefighters’ union, IAFF Local 596, expires in December of this year.
Martinez highlighted key aspects of the budget, indicating that “It’s the fourth year under the tax cap, second year of lower tax rates, avoids cuts to services, includes deficit reduction, and supports fund balances.”
The median household will see a $3.50 monthly increase for water and sewer services as well as a $5 per quarter charge for the water meters. In 2020, the rent was $1.50 per quarter. Sanitation services which include twice-weekly trash pickup and biannual bulk pickup will see a 25% increase to $120 per quarter.
An initiative to overhaul the city’s website, described by many as “hard to navigate” and “outdated” is in the proposed budget. Currently, users can use the website to pay various bills online but the rate varies significantly. “The current payment portal is too darn expensive,” Martinez said, for residents to pay bills online. The new website will streamline the access and adjust the rates. The initiative is estimated to cost $80,000 which includes replacement of the network servers.
Council Chairperson Sarah Salem said there will be additional informational meetings before the budget is voted on.
