The city of Ithaca has had a new budget proposal for the 2024 year. Mayor Laura Lewis proposed the budget to the common council on Oct. 4th. The plan includes spending on sidewalks, water and sewer systems, waste, and other general operating costs totaling $101,058,360. The final budget will be proposed on Nov. 1.
Of the $101 million proposed for the Ithaca city budget, $80,379,063 would be allocated for general operating costs, and $5,006,000 would be allocated for any new and approved capital projects.
Notably, key points of the budget proposal include:
- Creation or restoration of 22 jobs, no layoffs included
- Creating a budget for Ithaca’s new city manager form of government starting Jan. 1st of this year
- The re-establishment of the city clerk position
- Two new city departments, the Information and Technology Department and the Communication and Community Engagement Department
George McGonigal, 1st ward alderperson and common council member said that the proposal has proposed to combine the Infomation and Technology departments into one singular department under the city clerk, along with new staffing for the Communication and Community Engagement Departments.
“The technology stuff used to be separate, they combined them a few years ago when there was a financial downturn,” said McGonigal. “They’re dividing [The departments] again…they want to add some more staff for communications.”
According to the city of Ithaca, Mayor Lewis wanted to reduce the debt load and attain lower tax rates and levies for Ithaca residents. There was also a demand for integration of new labor contract laws. Staff benefits are still the city’s biggest expense at 66 percent of the total general operating costs.
“The big thing this year is repairs to all these labor contracts that are going to be very costly, but they’re long overdue.” said McGonigal “It’s gotta be a budget that focuses on city staff and city services… it’s gonna be a tight budget.”
Other parts of the 2024 budget proposal include a 10 percent sewer rate and an increase in trash tags at $5. The proposal is still up for discussion at common council meetings for anyone who has tweaks to the proposal to better serve the community.
“So far there has been no tweaking yet, what we have been doing here is hearing from department heads about what they want in the budget and we have heard from the mayor about all the things she’s including.” said McGonigal, “We can change that if we vote to do that.”
McGonigal emphasized that the proposed 2024 budget has not been set in stone and needs further deliberation before a final decision can be made. In the coming months, meetings will be held to discuss the proposed 2024 budget, with the final meeting taking place on Nov. 1st.
“The budget is not finalized yet…so people talk about wanting to add stuff and subtract stuff,” said McGonigal
To register to speak at the budget hearings, you must apply between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. the day of the hearing using this registration form. Likewise, to virtually attend the proposal meetings, visit the City Public Meeting’s official YouTube channel where a live stream of the meeting will be broadcast.
For more information, look towards the city of Ithaca’s website for more information or attend upcoming budget proposal meetings. The finalization for the 2024 budget will conclude this November.
Leave a Reply