OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) – Ogdensburg City Manager Stephen Jellie says the city is continuing to spend more than what it’s bringing in and if changes aren’t made this year, he says the deficit could get worse.
This past Monday, he told councillors that the city is looking at a $1.2 to $1.4 million deficit next year.
“City council is really going to have to come to the table now with their sleeves rolled up, all 7 of them,” said Jellie.
He’s adamant that the city’s financial structure needs to change and is stern in his claims that he has done all he can.
“This business of abstaining, not voting for budgets, quite frankly not coming in with any input to the budget or any ability to balance the budget, just blaming the city manager or one or two councillors really has to stop,” said Jellie.
He says the deficit is due to annual raises in city departments and inflation causing prices to rise. He notes the city could be in an even deeper hole if it stays on its current path.
“I know it’s only going to get greater. I mean I find it very hard to believe we won’t be facing much closer to a $2 million deficit as we start to plan the 2023 budget,” he said.
During Jellie’s tenure, property taxes have dipped dramatically following a time when the city was almost bankrupt. However, that decrease came with a sharp drop in jobs in the fire and police departments – decisions that didn’t go over well with councillors Mike Powers, Dan Skamperle, and Nicole Kennedy, who usually represent a council minority.
7 News reached out to some of those councillors for comment but did not hear back.
Jellie says if they were to raise taxes to their highest extent, the city would generate about $1.1 million which is still short of what the city needs to have a balanced budget.
“I don’t know how anybody thinks we will possibly revive business in the city with being in the top ten property tax rates in the state of New York because being in the top ten in this state is really saying something,” he said.
Because of the deficit, and how it could get worse, Jellie plans on getting a proposed budget into the hands of councillors in October – a month sooner than usual.
Could the city go back to teetering on the edge of bankruptcy? Jellie says that’s not a far-fetched idea.
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