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After Failure At State Capitol, Segarra Looks To Fill Next Year’s Deficit

By Jeff Cohen

May 14, 2012

You’ll recall the news last week — Mayor Pedro Segarra was looking to the state legislature to pass a bill that essentially would have allowed him to bring in an additional $8 million from property taxes on apartments and residences.

That effort failed. Now, Segarra has put together a list of savings, adjustments to revenue estimates, and taxes that will try to fill the deficit hole. The press release is below. We’ll have more tomorrow. (He wrote this letter to the city council.)

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From: Kupiec, Jared W. [[email protected]] Sent: Mon 5/14/2012 6:17 PM

To: Kupiec, Jared W.

Cc:

Subject: MAYOR SEGARRA READIES MITIGATION PROPOSAL — Documents Attached

Attachments: 5.14.12 Segarra Mitigation Amended Ordinances.pdf(1MB)

View As Web Page

PEDRO E. SEGARRA

MAYOR

MAYOR SEGARRA READIES MITIGATION PROPOSAL

Will Reduce Year-Over-Year Spending by Almost $2 Million Dollars

— NEWS AND COMMUNITY STATEMENT—

(May 14, 2012) — Mayor Pedro E. Segarra today submitted two substitute ordinances to the Court of Common Council following non-passage of a tax bill last week.

“The two substitutes ordinances represent a considerable amount of work and serious deliberation. Since the legislature adjourned last week, I have spent time reviewing all financial projections and analyzing each budget line item to determine what reasonable possibilities existed for cuts. The revenue projections are verified, legitimate and track with recent economic and fiscal trends. The reductions that I have recommended, and those that remain on the table, are not desirable and in some cases may result in job losses and diminished services. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that inaction, which likely would have resulted in a substantial mill rate increase, was not the appropriate and prudent course: it would have inflicted dramatic and substantial pain to residential and commercial property owners,” said Mayor Segarra.

The Mayor’s substitute General Fund Appropriation Ordinance recommended the following reductions:

?Health Insurance $1,000,000

?Recording Fees $100,000

?Summer Youth Employment $500,000

?MHIS Budget $240,000

?Innovation Fund $150,000

?Delay Firefighter Class $150,000 (by 2 months)

?Payments to 3rd Parties $130,000

?Lobbyists $80,000

?Employee Recruitment $25,000

?Employee Development $25,000

?Seasonal Employees $25,000

?Delay Vehicle Purchase $200,000

?Reduce BID Contribution $25,000

TOTAL: $2,650,000

The substitute Tax Levy Ordinance made the following modifications:

?General Property Taxes $1,000,000 (tax lien sales)

?Licenses & Permits $575,000 (building permit revenue)

?Revenue, Money & Property $38,000 (Shepherd Park)

?Intergovernmental Revenues $1,375,000 (see footnote)[1]

?Reimbursements $19,734 (fringe benefits associated with capital projects)

TOTAL: $3,007,734

Mayor Segarra continued, “Accounting for both the additional revenue and the cuts, the remaining gap of $2,575,623 will result in a 76.1 mill rate, or a .8 mill increase over the pending 3.51 mill increase. This increase will produce an approximate 2% increase in single-family properties, which is 3% less than originally projected, and as a class residential property will see a 4% drop; commercial properties will continue to see a substantial average drop of about 18%. With the additional cuts, year-over-year spending will be reduced by $1,953,882.”