OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) – In a year of discussions and compromises, Ogdensburg City Council will hold its end-of-year summary meeting Wednesday night.
Certainly, one of the biggest challenges was putting together a budget as outgoing City Manager Steven Jellie repeated to councillors time and time again that the city had a $3.5 million deficit and cuts needed to be made.
Interim City Manager Andrea Smith says there will be some challenges to stay on budget in 2023.
“We are really going to be watching our expenditures very, very closely because there is no room for error; not that any municipality goes into their budget anticipating or planning for errors, but in a budget like ours for 2023 there is zero room for errors,” she said.
With the new year coming, a new budget has been adopted that balances the city budget, but cuts 5 jobs, and raises property taxes by 4 percent.
“The years ahead are going to be tough unless we get more money coming in. I personally don’t see how we can get any more money right now. We’re not going to be getting any industry. Nobody’s getting industry right now really,” said Councillor William Dillabough.
Besides keeping an eye on the city budget, city council is still searching for a new city manager to hire.
“I think we have a few candidates and it just takes time to get the council together, do the interviews, and proceed to make a decision,” said Councillor John Rishe.
So far, the city council has narrowed its search down to a handful of candidates.
Copyright 2022 WWNY. All rights reserved.
