"Building Yonkers By Building Business Relationships"
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"Building Yonkers By Building Business Relationships" |
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City Council Adopts, Amicone to Sign
2009 City & School Budgets
Posted Date:
6/10/2008, from City of
Yonkers
6-1 council majority approves mayor's proposal with minor adjustments; final budget holds spending increase to inflation rate with record increase in local education funding 7.5% property tax increase will make up for widening state education funding shortfalls and preserve municipal and education services at current levels Yonkers, N.Y. (June 10, 2008) -- Nearly eight weeks after receiving the Fiscal Year 2009 Executive Budget, the City Council adopted Mayor Phil Amicone's annual spending plan largely in tact at a special meeting on Tuesday evening, preserving all municipal and school district services at current levels and providing record local education funding to the Yonkers Public Schools while holding the total spending increase to the rate of inflation.Several minor adjustments were hammered out over two weeks of intense negotiations resulting in an $892.8 million final adopted budget that will include a property tax increase of 7.5% ($498 average annual increase per homeowner), 1% or $2.65 million less than the Executive Budget originally proposed. The 2009 Adopted Budget was approved by a bipartisan 6-1 supermajority, with freshman Councilmember Joan Gronowski (D -- 3rd District) the sole dissenter. Amicone indicated that he would sign the council's adopted budget within the coming week. "I want to applaud the city councilmembers who approved this budget for their hard work, willingness to compromise and, above all, their concern to do the best thing for the residents, students and taxpayers of Yonkers," Mayor Phil Amicone said, praising the near unanimous vote. "Considering the nationwide economic downturn and the worsening shortfall in state education funding for our schools, the people of Yonkers can be confident that they now have a balanced budget that avoids the kind of cuts in education and other services that would have decimated this city." "We closed the budget deficit without layoffs or massive tax increases, but we did so with a series of temporary, stop-gap measures that place even greater emphasis next year on finally solving the chronic problem that has incessantly inhibited our city's quest for financial independence for years: a grossly underfunded school system by New York State," Amicone concluded. Operating Budget Highlights
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