Glens Falls still waiting for answers on budget

Oct. 31--GLENS FALLS -- Mayor Jack Diamond has not yet completed his 2018 budget, as the city waits on health insurance figures and contract negotiations with two unions.

"We're still going through each line item. Within a couple of weeks, we'll have a draft for the public to review," Diamond said on Monday.

He is continuing to meet with department heads to check numbers.

Health insurance and retirement are major components of the budget, so those numbers have to be pinned down before releasing the draft. Health insurance costs are set to increase, but how much remains the question.

"They never go down," Diamond said.

In the city's $17.5 million 2017 budget, $3.3 million was allocated for health insurance costs. That includes $2.06 million for active employees and $1.24 million for retired employees. Another $138,000 will go toward dental insurance for active employees and those retirees who are eligible for the coverage.

Some retired employees do not pay anything toward the health insurance premiums, depending on when they retired, according to the current union contracts.

The city also appropriated in the 2017 budget nearly $1.73 million for contributions to retirement costs.

Mike Mender, assistant to the mayor, said the city should receive its health insurance cost from its carrier late Thursday or early Friday. Then those numbers will be plugged into the budget for the mayor to review.

Mender said he expects the council will hold workshop meetings with department heads to review their requests and make adjustments. The budget would be formally proposed at the Nov. 14 Common Council meeting with a public hearing set for Nov. 28. The council will make any tweaks if necessary, then adopt the budget.

The city charter states the tentative budget should be presented to the Common Council on or before Oct. 15. A public hearing on the budget should be held on or before Nov. 10 and the budget adopted no later than Dec. 1. If the budget is not adopted by Dec. 15, then the tentative budget is used.

The city is in the midst of contract negotiations with Glens Falls Firefighters Union Local 2230 and the Civil Service Employees Association, which covers other city staff. Both five-year pacts expire at the end of the year. Diamond said the personnel committee has been meeting with Fire Department officials. He was not sure of the status of talks with CSEA.

The upcoming mayoral and Common Council election on Tuesday also is affecting work on the budget. Democrat Dan Hall, Republican Tim Guy and Green Party candidate Rich Cirino are vying to replace Diamond, who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election. Diamond said he would like to include the mayor-elect in the budget process.

"You want to be able to adopt a budget they're going to work with," he said.

Diamond highlighted a few initiatives that are set to be included in this budget.

Using some community development funding, the city plans to hire an additional code enforcement officer to help inventory abandoned properties.

Also, Diamond said he is working on including a stormwater management program similar to the sidewalks program, where the city would split 50-50 the costs of making stormwater improvements on residents' property.

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