Mayor Johnson Fields Concerns on Budget

With six weeks to go until the Rochester city budget is due in Albany, Mayor William Johnson Jr. is holding a series of public forums to field feedback from city residents on this year’s budget process. The first of these forums was held Monday, March 29, at the Edgerton Community center in northwest Rochester.

"We think that it is important for citizens to understand this process," said Mayor Johnson in his opening statement Monday evening. Johnson and city budget director Bill Ansbro spent the evening outlining their strategy for obtaining a more equitable budget from Albany.

"Only then," said Johnson "only if we are ignored in or we get rejection in Albany and we don't get sufficient resources will we have to take a course action that none of us really wants to see."

Johnson continued, "Even when you look in surrounding towns and villages you will see, that almost every last one of them -- suburban towns, villages and school districts -- have had to make some real critical decisions in putting this budget together."

After Johnson's brief fiscal forecast, the microphone was turned over to Ansbro, who outlined what the budget has looked like for the past decade, and what we might expect. In this briefing Ansbro explained where our funding comes from and how this relates to the Mayor's strategy for dealing with Albany.

In laying out the platform for Johnson's strategy, Ansbro made sure to note the different aspects of Rochester's fiscal situation, mentioning points like a flattened state handout since 9/11 and the fact that Rochester gets less per capita than Buffalo or Syracuse.

"After 09/11 things have been kind of flat," Ansbro remarked about a freeze in state funding, "so you'll see that that's going to be a very important component of us putting together a for the upcoming fiscal year."

Ansbro also listed some notable practices of Johnson's administration, such as only increasing the budget to match the high tide of inflation, and always managing to end the fiscal year with a balanced budget.

"When we talk about a gap for a future year, that's not a deficit. We always end the year taking in more funds than we spend," Ansbro said, "and so we haven't had a deficit where other governments have."

With the landscape thoroughly mapped out, Johnson went back to outlining his fiscal strategy for Albany. Even with all that, the Mayor’s office is doing to come up with a balanced budget.The reality is that there is a gap of over $30 million that he and his office feel justified in going to Albany and asking for, Johnson said.

A key factor of Johnson's strategy is Albany's budget policy, a provision of which says that the state is obligated to spend 2 percent of its income tax earnings on "local municipalities," a law that has been waived for the last two years.

"If we were receiving the amount of aid we are entitled to under that law, we'd be getting a $140 million a year not $40 million," said Mayor Johnson

Johnson met Tuesday and Thursday with the northeast and southwest quadrants of the city and will hold a southeast forum Tuesday April 6 at the Third Presbyterian Church Celebration Center at 4 Meigs St.

In addition to these preliminary meetings, the Mayor said that there will be future meetings where people can access the 400-500 page budget and voice their concerns to the Council.

"We have not gone to the point of talking about how we can beat this $38 million gap by cutting programs," said Johnson in his first of four attempts to ease the minds of a city that feels a dark cloud of cuts on the horizon.

Check the Rochester Indymedia calendar for information on future budget forums.