Financial concerns were the top issue for 2024 according to Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund’s State of the City report.
The 100-page report details highlights, achievements, and challenges of Ecklund’s first year in the city’s top executive position.
She said in the opening summary that the most pressing challenges of the year were completing the 2022 City Audit, the completion of the Fleet Maintenance Garage on Washington Street, and a significant increase in homeless encampments in the city.
Ecklund also cited “inherited delays” in the deployment the city’s second ambulance, financial discrepancies in the 2024 budget, missed opportunities such as failure to apply for Financial Restructuring Board (FRB) funding, and underestimations in critical expenses like retirement costs for police and fire personnel, as well as health, dental, and Medicare costs.
Other financial issues for the past year cited by Ecklund include the rising costs of goods and services.
You can read the address here: https://www.jamestownny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/State-of-the-City-2025-compressed.pdf
We will have a discussion with Mayor Ecklund on her State of City on the February 6 edition of Community Matters here on WRFA.
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