‘This is my seventh budget and the most difficult. You have to honor your union contracts and now we are avoiding layoffs.’

City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen

By Dan Murphy

The City of Yonkers completed another stressful budget process that ended in a more than $1 billion spending plan that will raise property taxes by 6.2 percent, includes a last-minute infusion of $8.8 million in state aid, and will not result in any layoffs in either the Yonkers Public Schools or at City Hall.

Mayor Mike Spano and the City Council worked and waited into Tuesday night for word from Albany and the Division of State Budget, which is the financial arm of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. Spano made several visits over the past few months to Albany to confer with elected officials, state budget employees and the governor to plead the case for Yonkers.

One source tells us that while a majority of the City Council was in agreement on a 6.2 percent tax increase, the city budget was $3 million short until the state agreed to increase its additional funding, coming in the form of Bullet Aid, from $5 million to $8.8 million. If the city didn’t get the additional $3.8 million, then property taxes would have gone up to 7.2 percent, a number that Republican councilmembers would not have supported, throwing the budget into chaos in the final hours as tax bills need to be finalized and mailed out.

“The mayor stood tall on this budget,” said one City Hall insider. “He waited them out and explained the situation. We could not keep property taxes and 6.2 percent and avoid layoffs without additional state aid. So, we finally got $8.8 million in bullet aid and there are no layoffs. Mayor Spano got us over the finish line, and the governor wanted no layoffs and there will be no layoffs.”

Yonkers Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Edwin Quezada had proposed eliminating 251 positions, about half of which are full-time teachers and staff. Quezada and the Board of Education will now have to use the additional funding to keep those teacher and staff on the payroll for the next school year. But the other eliminated positions, and temporary hires and program cuts will remain.

The city will also reduce its additional contribution, or Maintenance of Effort, by $2.5 million to the YPS as a result of the additional aid from Albany, to help stave off layoffs on the city side, to fire, police and Department of Public Works personnel. Vacant positions will be eliminated but there will be no layoffs to any fire, police or DPW workers. A catastrophic budget crisis was averted again.

“This is my seventh budget and it has been the most difficult,” said City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen. “We negotiated contracts with our unions, and you have to honor your contacts. The only alternative was layoffs, and now we are avoiding layoffs.”

Another dynamic in this year’s budget was the role of the city’s unions in applying pressure in Albany to help pay for their contracts. Yonkers Fire Union President Barry McGoey highlighted a trip he and other union leaders made to New York City last week to discuss the budget crisis with the State Department of Budget.

“I and all of the other Yonkers city and BOE union leaders had a very productive meeting this afternoon with Gov. Cuomo’s budget director and senior staff members,” said McGoey. “We are hopeful that Gov. Cuomo will do everything he can to help save over 450 layoffs in the City of Yonkers.”

The role of the unions clearly played some role in the final decision of Cuomo, who is running for re-election this year, to help with additional funding for Yonkers to avoid layoffs. The governor’s call for no layoffs was supported by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who in the past has worked with Assemblymember Shelley Mayer to deliver additional aid for Yonkers. Now that Mayer is a state senator, Heastie continues to support additional funding for Yonkers, understanding the needs of the city after hearing about it for years from now-Sen. Mayer.

The State Senate, still controlled by Republicans and independent Democrats until the end of the year, provided no assistance or support for Yonkers in this year’s budget crisis.