By Jim Roberts

Peekskill property owners will see no increase in the city portion of their taxes next year if the proposed budget before the common council passes in a vote scheduled for next Monday night.

Mayor Mary Foster presented an additional list of proposed cuts at the common council’s work session in city hall Monday night. The cuts include a freeze on management salaries, a nearly $250,000 reduction in overtime, the sale of 10 cars from the city fleet, elimination of cell phones for city workers and energy conservation measures.

No layoffs are included in this newest proposed budget. An additional lieutenant position in the police department was suggested by Police Chief Eugene Tumolo and included in Foster’s proposal.

If adopted, the budget will provide a .08 percent cut in the property tax rate, which would translate to about $20 per average household in savings next year.

“The task was to give taxpayers relief and not have the staff lose any of their jobs,” Foster said.
Acting City Manager Marcus Serrano’s first tentative budget for 2009 included an 11.99 percent tax increase, which would have raised city property taxes by $21.29 per month for the average homeowner.

That number was whittled down to 4.43 percent in the revised proposal that the council heard at a public meeting last Wednesday. The proposal would have eliminated one unfilled position in the fire department, another in the police department, and two jobs in the city’s youth bureau.
Ten hearings were held by the common council since Oct. 7 examining each department’s proposed budget. If the final vote scheduled for Nov. 24 is delayed, an additional meeting date of Nov. 26 has been slated for a vote. The budget must be passed by Dec. 1.

“If you go line item by line item, and even though each reduction may seem small, when you add them all up, it’s meaningful for the taxpayer,” Foster said. “We listened to what every department told us, and we pushed back on some items, but you have to take it all in.”
The new budget will also pay the salaries and benefits of three police officers that were paid for by grants in previous years at a total cost of approximately $270,000, Foster said.

At Monday’s hearing, Chief Tumolo discussed the need for a new position on the police force.
“I did ask a while back for an additional lieutenant’s position,” Tumolo said. “I have an existing list and under the civil service rule you can take one out of the top three. The current list expires at the end of this year. I’ve made the suggestion and I’m very attuned to the financial implications.”

Councilwoman Cathy Pisani said she believes a specific person has already been selected for the proposed new lieutenant position but declined to name the person in a public meeting.
“I believe I know the plan and I believe there’s a person targeted for this position and the mayor is well aware of it,” Pisani said. “This is another administrative position. My opinion is that in this economy we can’t undertake a new position.”

Foster said in an interview she has no role in selecting a person for the lieutenant position.
“There is no one covering midnights now,” she said. “If you need a boss on midnights now, you have to call someone on the phone. I don’t look at life and safety issues as something you compromise during budget discussions. The need for it is clear, but unfortunately everyone wants to tie it in with politics and personalities.”

Councilman Joe Schuder questioned the need for the new lieutenant slot and cited the timing of a new hire in the difficult economy.

“It’s a fairly rough time and you do have some coverage for the shift,” Schuder said. “It seems to me the amount of dollars required to do this is an uptick for the city while we’re looking very hard to not spend dollars and reduce our spending. For me, the timing here is not quite proper.”

The cost to the city for a new lieutenant, including salary and benefits, would reach approximately $170,000.

When the pending retirement of two sergeants in the police department was raised, Pisani suggested that those spots be left open temporarily.

“I’m suggesting…maybe we don’t fill them for a year,” Pisani said. “We are really going to be hitting hard crunch numbers next year and I don’t think this council has taken that into consideration.”

Dozens of city workers packed the second floor of city hall last Wednesday night during a budget discussion in the city manager’s office. Rumors had circulated that a large number of workers were going to be laid off.

“I’m not sure why people are here,” Foster said to the assembled workers. “I’ve gotten a number of calls today with a whole bunch of rumors running around. One of the calls I got was that people were told that 14 people were going to be laid off or fired. Well, that’s not true.”