North Tonawanda city leaders began what was a predictable — and necessary — hand-wringing process at a council work session Tuesday. The topic, which will likely dominate headlines coming out of City Hall for the better part of the next several months, was the city budget.
We can’t help but think of the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
When Mayor Larry Soos offered his budget, it was predicated on several revenue if-come scenarios, including a yet-to-be-negotiated settlement with the New York Power Authority over the relicensing of its power plant in Niagara Falls. North Tonawanda, along with several other communities, feels the effects of the plant, but got next to nothing by way of compensation during the relicensing process.
It appears that months of negotiations will result in some form of a settlement, but how much and when remains unclear.
In the meantime, if nothing is done, city Accountant Dave Jakubaszek told the council that the water-sewer fund — the rates for which are astronomical already in NT — will be more than $400,000 in the hole.
Here’s the best-case scenario: The mayor’s revenue figures bear fruit, NYPA comes through with its low-cost power to run the wastewater treatment plant and city leaders find a way to plug the holes in the water-sewer budget for another year.
Here’s the worst-case scenario: The NYPA negotiations stall, leaving a hole in the operating budget and the city either has to raise the rates or cut spending in other areas to make up the difference.
Of course, this might have been avoidable had the council worked in good faith to enact a better spending plan, rather than letting the mayor’s version pass into law — and to set him up for an election year fall.
Let’s say this once: Raising the water rate is not an option. Residents here already pay far too much in their water bills and the council promised not to raise that rate when it voted to adopt the mayor’s budget, despite whatever misgivings they expressed at the time.
Alderman Dennis Pasiak had it exactly right on Tuesday when he said: “I think our credibility as a governing body is really at stake if we raise the water rate.”
That leaves the NYPA if-come, raiding the city’s savings account or drastic spending cuts at City Hall.
Hardly an ideal situation.
