Jamestown City Council members will have to decide whether to bolster the city’s rainy day fund or lower the proposed tax rate when they vote on the 2026 City Budget tonight.
Council President Tony Dolce said there was a lot of discussion at the Budget Public Hearing on November 17 about the use of the unassigned fund balance, “Almost half of it being used up to offset this budget. And, so, the question came up as to do we want to restore some of that, or is there other ways to make up for that? And what’s going to happen moving forward, the concern about what does next year, in the year beyond bring?”
Mayor Kim Ecklund has proposed using $3,340,616 from the fund balance toward the 2026 city budget. She had previously said that if the city has to continue using that amount to help balance the budget that the fund balance would be empty in two years.
The Government Finance Officer’s Association (GFOA) recommends that a municipality’s general fund have at least two months of spending in their unassigned fund balance.
Dolce said the unassigned amount of the fund balance was in recent years bolstered by a big increase in sales tax revenues in 2020 after New York State began collecting sales tax on items purchased on the Internet. Otherwise, he said the amount has ebbed and flowed over the decades.
One resolution under new business would increase the amount budgeted for sales tax revenue in 2026 from $8,895,847 to $9,244,704. This represents an increase of $348,857, or a 2% to 6% increase over the 2025 sales tax revenue budget. This measure was proposed based on favorable sales tax receipts through third quarter of 2025.
Another resolution under new business would decrease the amount budgeted for 2026 for health insurance by $670,192. This move is the result of negotiations by the City with Highmark of Western New York.
Dolce said with other adjustments, there’s roughly about $800,000 that could either be restored to the unassigned fund balance to protect that fund for years to come or the money could be used to reduce the proposed 7.5% tax increase. He said he’d like to see a combination of the two options, “Maybe put a little bit towards reducing the tax increase, at the same time putting a lot of that back towards the fund balance, or some somewhere in between. It hasn’t really been put out yet in terms of the actual dollars and cents, so I’m waiting to hear from some of the council people what they think. But, you know, I mean, I’m willing to kind of go along with what they like to do.”
A public hearing will be held at 6:45 p.m. in the second floor Council Chambers regarding a local law about the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and the State Energy Conservation Code in the City of Jamestown.
The voting session will then be held at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers. All meetings are open to the public with the public hearing and voting session also being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.
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