Peekskill Council Votes Not to Exceed Tax Cap in Budget
The Peekskill Common Council voted unanimously last week not to exceed the state mandated tax levy cap in the 2015 city budget.
The somewhat surprising united front means the spending plan the council had to adopt by last night (Monday) cannot raise taxes for property owners more than 2.26%, or approximately $47 for homes with an average assessment of $8,700.
The consensus reached to not even hold a public hearing to consider breaking the cap came after Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina and Councilman Vincent Vesce made detailed presentations on how the $53 million budget, which Comptroller Ann Maestri described a few weeks ago as “scary,” was “negligent,” contained unrealistic projections and “doesn’t hold water.”
“These are budget numbers that will wreak havoc next year,” Catalina maintained in his power point summary. “These numbers are not Republican or Democrat. We are not budgeting for the services that we will have to provide to the City of Peekskill. It’s not the way to govern.”
As examples, Catalina explained in this year’s budget, workman’s compensation for the police department totaled $198,000, but next year only $75,000 is set aside for the same expense. More glaring is overtime in the fire department, which so far this year has clocked in at $480,000, but next year is budgeted at only $120,000.
“It’s a fallacy. These are not real numbers,” Catalina said.
Vesce went one step further, pointing out adopted budgets in Peekskill were underfunded by $3.6 million in 2011, $2.3 million in 2012 and $2.5 million in 2013.
“This 2.2% philosophy has built this hole the City of Peekskill is in,” Vesce said. “It takes a little bit of political courage, but we do need to be responsible.”
Catalina also reiterated the hefty pension cost obligations the city was facing. Over the last three years, the city has deferred $2.5 million in pension expenses to the state. It is mandated to pay at least $267,000 next year. After considering utilizing some fund balance to lower the pension costs, the council opted a few weeks ago not to fund a few proposed positions in the budget and allocate about $150,000 to pay the state.
Included in the current proposed budget is an increase in parking meters to $1 per hour and increases in water and sewer rates.
Several residents who are among the 60% of city dwellers who own homes told the council any tax hike would be difficult for some constituents to absorb, particularly residents on fixed incomes.
“$300 to me is 100 gallons of heating oil, two months worth of Con Edison bills, three weeks worth of groceries,” said Deb Adams. “I want services and I’m willing to pay for services. I hope you realize what a couple of hundred dollars really means to people of this community.”
Leslie Lawler said some members of the council should stop pointing fingers at past administrations for the city’s financial woes.
“We know how we got to where we are. Why are we beating a dead horse?” she said. “Tell us what we need to do to go forward. You all need to drop the political stink that suffocates everything you do.”
When George Ondek asked why some neighboring municipalities such as Yorktown and Cortlandt were able to deliver budgets well under the tax cap, Councilwoman Drew Claxton said all municipalities were dealing with skyrocketing pension costs and other mandates.
“All of these municipalities are in the same position. All municipalities are hurting, not just Peekskill,” she said. “We have been hit with more than $8 million in tax certioraris. We have to look at how we can reduce costs and increase revenues.”
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
