Schenectady passes aid test City slated to get $11.8 million this year after meeting state guidelines
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer January 17, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- The city is still on track to get higher amounts of state aid in coming years -- rising to $14 million by 2010, city leaders said.
The city worked out a deal with Gov. Eliot Spitzer last year to increase the city's aid by about 9 percent a year from 2007 to 2010. Aid for 2008 is $11.8 million out of a budget of $72.8 million. But the start of every year means a new review of that deal, which includes not only a state review of its own ability to pay but looking at whether the city is keeping tax increases in check and meeting other guidelines. The state Budget Division notified Schenectady recently that it should still get the state aid increases. The state aid helps cover city services and offsets the local tax burden. Last year's aid deal followed three years of lobbying by Schenectady to have its state aid increased from the $5.6 million it received for years. After 2003, the city won an incremental aid increase from $5.7 million in 2003 to $10.8 million for 2007. To keep the deal going, the city must not raise taxes more than a general cost of living increase and its population must not significantly change. The city has decreased property taxes by about 1 percent each of the last two years. The population has remained relatively steady, decreasing by about 300 residents to 61,560 from 2000 to 2006, according to U.S. Census estimates. Mayor Brian U. Stratton said he wants Schenectady to be getting $14 million in aid now. Other cities, such as Niagara Falls, are getting about 12 percent state aid increases. But Stratton said he's happy the city is getting some kind of increase to stay financially solvent. When Stratton first took office in 2004, the city had the worst credit rating from Moody's Investors Service in the state at Ba3. The city's investment grade has since moved up five spots to Baa2. The highest rating is A. "This is a progressive plan to get us where we need to be," Stratton said. "It is a good commitment on the governor's part."
http://www.dailygazette.com SCHENECTADY State boosts aid to city Extra $1M coming through municipal incentive program BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
An extra $1 million in state aid is expected for Schenectady this year through an incentives program that rewards budget planning, tax cuts and government efficiencies. “I think it’s wonderful, I think we deserve it and I think there’s a lot more where that came from,” said Mayor Brian U. Stratton, who included the projected aid in his 2008 budget. But he noted that other municipalities that have met the state’s requirements are also getting a 9 percent increase, continuing the disparity in aid between Schenectady and similar cities that get much more. “Other municipalities already make more, who haven’t done half of what we’ve done. I’ve made that argument and I’ll continue to make it,” he said. “Schenectady has earned its stripes. I don’t think anyone can make the argument the way we can, because we’ve already done the hard work.” Finance Commissioner Ismat Alam said state comptroller offi cials may be on Stratton’s side. “They are very impressed with what the city of Schenectady has done,” she said, adding that the state has asked if it can send interns to Schenectady’s finance department to learn. But educating interns isn’t enough to bump the city from $10.8 million to $11.8 million in aid. Schenectady earned the increase through the state’s Aid Incentives for Municipalities program, which guarantees a 9 percent increase in state aid if the municipality meets three criteria. If Schenectady falls behind, it is prohibited from receiving additional state aid, Alam said. Since the city met the requirements in 2007, she expects Schenectady’s aid increase to be announced when the 2008-2009 state budget is proposed next week, she said. With the increase, 16 percent of the city’s $72.7 million budget will be paid by the state. The city had to meet three requirements to earn its aid increase. First, Schenectady must turn in a four-year fiscal plan every year. Since finance officials developed a five-year plan to get the city back on sound footing in 2004, that requirement was easy to fulfill, Alam said. They add onto the plan at the end of each fiscal year. Secondly, the city cannot raise taxes above the rate of inflation. That threshold has also been met with the 1 percent tax reductions in 2007 and 2008. Finally, the city must prove, each year, that it has cut expenses or found ways to share services. In the 2008 budget, Mayor Brian U. Stratton actually increased spending by $4 million, including a 40 percent increase in the paving budget, funding the next step of the reassessment project and adding two fi refighters, an assistant city engineer, a plumber and a property nuisance code officer. The budget also included Stratton’s $36,000 raise and the $4,293 raise for half of the council members. But each politician who got a raise must pay for 20 percent of the health insurance that was previously offered to them free of charge. However, the budget did include several savings. A pair of robotic cameras, purchased last fall, will save the city thousands of dollars this year because sewer and water workers will no longer have to hire a contractor to diagnose problems in the pipes. In their first few weeks, the robots did the equivalent of $40,000 of work. The $500,000 expense will be paid by other municipalities who will rent the robots for a price cheaper than the contractors’ going rate. The city expects to pay off the robots within three years. Also last year, the city joined a consortium of municipalities to save on prescription drug coverage, joined with the neighboring communities in plans to build a joint salt shed that would be cheaper than building a new one on its own, and cut its billing staff by one after transferring school tax billing to BOCES, which can do it for less money than it costs the city. The city also saved $435,200 on liability insurance by rebidding the contract. “We have been doing quite a bit,” Alam said. But Schenectady isn’t out of the woods yet, she added. “We are on the road to recovery,” she said. “We need more surplus.”
State budget plan increases local money, closes facilities Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed 2008-09 state budget includes more money for local municipalities, but also calls for the closing of some state facilities. The cities of Albany and Schenectady will receive large increases in Aid and Incentives for Municipalities under the governor's plan. Albany's annual aid will increase by 11.5 percent, from $12.2 million in 2007-08 to $13.6 million in 2008-09, while Schenectady will see a 9 percent jump to $11.7 million in 2008-09 and Amsterdam will see a 7 percent increase to $3 million. The biggest local closing included in the budget proposal is the announced shuttering of the Camp Mount McGregor correctional facility. Spitzer said that closing will save the state $1.1 million in 2008-09 and $4.2 million in 2009-10. Also slated for closing in the budget plan is the Cass Residential Center youth facility in Rensselaerville and the Gloversville Group Home youth facility. The Cass Residential Center is slated to be closed in May, while the Gloversville facility is set for closing this month. Svveral area parks and historic sites are budgeted for capital improvement money in the spending plan. These include: -- $3.55 million for John Boyd Thatcher State Park. -- $75,000 for the Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site. -- $250,000 for Thompson Lake State Park. -- $1.9 million for Moreau Lake State Park. -- $2.35 million for Peebles Island. -- $3.8 million for Saratoga Spa State Park. -- $170,000 for the Johnson Hall State Historic Site. -- $800,000 for the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site.
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