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From YouTube: 2021.10.25 City Council Special Business Meeting
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A
A
A
A
Thank
you.
So
tonight
we
have
our
annual
public
hearing
regarding
the
22
2022
budget
I'll,
have
the
clerk
introduce
the
public
hearing
and
explain
the
directions
to
participate.
It
is
five
minutes
for
participants
and
I
ask
you
to
be
respectful
clerk.
G
Those
wishing
to
participate
may
do
so
via
zoom
by
clicking
the
raise
hand,
button
and
leaving
it
raised
until
called
upon
each
speaker
will
be
given
up
to
five
minutes
to
address
city
council
on
the
budget
and
each
participant
should
state
their
full
name
and
if
they
live
and
or
work
in
the
city
of
england.
Thank
you.
H
Good
evening
tark
dalzum,
I
am
a
binghamton
tax
payer
and
a
homeowner
on
the
south
side,
a
few
key
takeaways
after
reviewing
this
budget
that,
I
think,
should
be
given
a
little
more
public
attention
is
one
so
much
for
reimagining
community
safety.
H
The
police
department
budget
jumps
more
than
one
million
dollars
from
12.58
to
13.6
million.
Just
to
be
clear,
this
does
not
include
the
cost
of
benefits,
health
insurance,
social
security,
pension
workers,
compensation,
etc.
So
it
doesn't
represent
the
true
cost
of
a
broken
approach
that
criminalizes
social
ills
and
relies
exclusively
on
law
enforcement
to
address.
H
H
Just
isn't
the
right
solution,
that's
sarcasm,
because
we
know
it's
not
but
anyways
number
two,
the
impacts
of
david's
great
flush
at
the
joint
sewage
treatment
plant
is
becoming
more
and
more
evident
if
the
sewer
rates
according
to
the
budget
that
they
will
go
up
for
binghamton
users,
at
least
13
in
the
spring
of
2022..
H
I
just
am
curious
as
to
why
mayor
david
waited
so
long
for
a
double-digit
increase
when
he's
out
of
office.
Even
though
he's
the
one
who
authorized
this
the
next
mayor
is
certainly
going
to
get
blamed.
But
let's
be
clear,
this
is
david's
great
flush.
H
Just
looking
at
the
debt
payments
over
the
last
10
years
in
2012,
the
debt
payment
was
3.2
million
for
all
sewer
rate
users
in
2017,
it's
5.5
million
in
2022
it
is
just
under
10
million,
and
that
number
is
likely
to
grow,
because
we
don't
know
how
many
millions,
which
are
wrapped
up
in
court
or
is
going
to
fall
to
the
users.
H
H
In
this
budget,
mayor
david
is
asking
the
council
for
approval
to
borrow
2.75
million
dollars
for
baseball
stadium
improvements.
We've
already
made
five
million
dollars
in
state
and
local
investments,
but
apparently
that
wasn't
enough.
I
recall
the
last
time
this
was
done.
Mayor
david
said:
oh,
the
the
the
stadium
had
deficiencies
and
the
the
league
demanded
they
be
resolved.
H
H
I
can't
understand
why
the
council
doesn't
advocate
for
something
in
return
for
yet
another
multi-million
dollar
investment
in
the
stadium
back
in
2018.
I
gave
a
couple
examples
there
about
70
home
games
in
a
season.
Why
not
offer
city
appreciation
nights
offering
all
city
residents,
50
percent
off
ticket
prices
or
because
nearly
half
of
all
city
youth
live
in
poverty?
Maybe
negotiate
youth
game
days,
granting
any
youth
with
the
binghamton
city
school
district
id
admission
for
two
bucks,
we're
making
major
investments,
the
taxpayers
and
the
city
residents
should
get
something
in
return.
H
Yup
we
stopped
having
parks,
manage
the
golf
course
I
think
back
in
2010
or
so
2000
and
invited
private
vendors
to
bid
for
the
opportunity
to
manage
the
course
and
make
money.
Basically,
we
shifted
the
risk
from
taxpayers
to
private
management
vendors.
It
made
sense.
This
was
not
a
public
service
available
to
all
free
of
charge,
but
a
commodity
purchased
by
users.
H
That
approach
netted
this
taxpayers
a
positive
gain.
This
budget,
we
are
now
paying
a
private
management
firm,
almost
a
million
dollars
to
manage
the
course
in
this
budget.
Taxpayers
are
being
asked
to
fund
350
000
for
capital
improvements
and
mayor
david
can't
even
make
the
budget
balance.
He
needs
an
additional
127
000
of
local
taxpayers
that
must
cover
just
to
balance
the
budget.
So
that's
we
went
from
a
net
positive
for
taxpayers
to
one
that
bills,
the
taxpayers
for
almost
a
million
dollars
in
just
year,
one,
but.
A
All
right,
I'm
going
to
need
a
my
apologies,
a
motion
to
and.
A
C
Oh
yeah
motion
to
close
the
public
hearing.
A
Opposed
okay,
thank
you.
So
now
we
are
going
to
move
on
to
introductory
ordinance
21-119
considered
in
finance
with
councilman
strong
councilman.
I
Thank
you.
Madam
president,
earlier
today
we
were
notified
of
an
amendment
that
the
new
commissioner
of
dpw
and
personnel
would
like
us
to
make
to
the
dpw
budget
for
2022..
I
I
hope
everybody
got
that
and
read
through
mr
merkel's
comments
and
sharon's
explanation.
I
So
I
first
introduced
introductory
ordinance
21-119
an
ordinance
adopting
the
tax
budget
for
the
year
of
2022,
as
amended
second,
that
okay.
So
we
have
a
series
of
of
motions
that
I'm
going
to
make
to
as
we
did
before,
to
move
the
money
around
for
contingency
and
back
etc.
So
bear
with
me,
as
I
read
through
these
and.
I
I
A
I
Secondly,
increase
the
gross
budget
of
the
general
fund
from
sixty
six
million
two.
Eighty,
seven,
fifty
six
point,
one
one
to
sixty
six
million
three
forty
zero.
Eighty
one
point
thirty
one
on
page
three
and
that
will
increase
the
totals
on
page
three.
Accordingly,
gross
budget
specified
purposes
from
99
131
0
77.38
to
99
190
402.58.
I
Secondly,
change
the
fund
balance
from
three
million
five.
Four:
three:
two:
oh
six
point:
eighty
three
to
three
million
six:
oh
two:
five,
thirty,
two
point:
zero
three
and
thirdly,
I
think
the
gross
budget
on
all
purposes
from
125
million
141
314
point
38
to
125
million.
Two
hundred
thousand
six.
Thirty
nine
point.
Fifty
eight
and
fourthly
increase
budget
line
a
one:
nine,
nine,
zero
point:
five:
five:
zero:
zero,
zero
contingency
from
twenty
five
thousand;
five
hundred
to
eighty
four
thousand,
eight,
twenty
five
point:
twenty
on
page
forty,
seven!
A
So
we'll
take
full
roll
qualcomm.
B
I
I
C
D
A
I
Thank
you,
madam
president.
Finally,
in
this
series
of
motions,
I
make
a
motion
to
approve
pages
3,
5,
47
and
69
to
70
of
the
tax
budget
for
the
year
2022
contained
in
the
introductory
ordinance
021-119
as
amended.
Second.
D
I
B
B
However,
I
cannot
move
forward
as
a
member
of
this
council
with
fiduciary
responsibilities,
primarily
to
give
to
represent
my
district
when
we're
managing
or
overseeing
the
budget
of
the
city.
Without
saying
a
few
things.
B
I
cannot
support
this
budget
and
I
did
not
bring
up
a
lot
of
these
concerns
throughout
the
budget
process,
because
I
knew
it
would
have
been
overlooked
and
or
voted
out,
but
I
just
wanted
to
make
sure
the
record
reflects
that
this
budget
does
not
support
the
needs
of
my
constituency,
and
I
cannot
represent
my
neighbors
and
friends
by
supporting
it
as
it
stands.
Thank
you.
D
Ahead,
yes,
I
did
thank
you,
madam
president.
First
I
would
like
to
say
thank
you
to
everybody
all
of
the
department,
heads
and
chuck
the
comptroller
and
the
mayor
for
putting
a
lot
of
effort.
D
What
I'm
sure
is
hours
and
hours
and
hours
of
effort
into
this
budget,
as
did
we,
we
also
put
in
hours
and
hours
of
effort,
reviewing
this
budget
and
asking
questions
making
changes,
but
I
I,
as
I
often
do,
will
echo
the
sentiments
of
my
colleague,
councilwoman
riley,
in
that
there
are
a
lot
of
things
that
I
like
about
this
budget
and
I'm
glad
to
see
there
are
some
things
that
are
being
funded.
I
I
like
to
see
the
public
servants
and
the
employees
of
the
city
get
raises,
and
you
know
we.
D
We
are
funding
certain
programs
and
creating
new
positions
that
I
think
will
serve
the
city,
but
when
I
think
of
this
budget
overall,
I
imagine
okay,
if
I
were,
if
I
were,
to
give
a
donation,
which
I
guess
my
taxes
are
kind
of,
like
a
donation
to
the
city.
In
a
way,
if
I
were
to
give
a
100
donation
to
the
city
of
binghamton-
and
I
could
choose
where
I
wanted
my
money
to
go,
it
wouldn't
be
allocated
in
this
way,
and
I
I
did
raise
some
concerns.
D
I
know
if
anybody
watches
the
footage
or
was
at
the
meetings
in
person.
I
do
ask
a
lot
of
questions.
I
probably
ask
the
most
questions
of
anybody
on
council,
because
I
want
to
make
sure
that
the
tax
dollars
of
the
people
of
the
city
of
binghamton
are
going
to
programs
that
will
actually
serve
them,
and
so
I
raised
a
lot
of
concerns
unsurprising
to
nobody
around
the
the
police
budget.
Community
safety
is
extremely
important
to
every
single
person
in
the
city
of
binghamton.
D
That's
that's
not
what's
going
to
serve
me
more
than
meaningful
and
robust
investment
in
affordable
housing
and
other
programs
that
prevent
crime
and
increase
community
safety
from
the
jump.
So,
although
there
are
a
lot
of
things
in
here
that
I
like
I,
I
don't
know
that
I
can
put
my
wholehearted
stamp
of
approval
on
this
budget,
especially
also,
let
me
add
that
we
were
so
excited
to
produce
a
report
from
the
police,
reform
and
reinvention
collaborative,
and
then
we
are
allocating
money
to
fulfill
one
budget.
D
Point
sorry,
one
bullet
point
from
that
entire
report,
and
and
nothing
more,
you
know
we,
I
I
I
have
brought
up
affordable
housing
at
pretty
much
every
single
meeting
when
people
have
a
place
to
live
a
safe
place
to
live
crime
goes
down
because
people
feel
safe
and
secure.
They
feel
proud
of
their
neighborhoods.
D
Also
things
like
code
enforcement,
but
in
a
proactive
way,
where
neighborhoods
look
nice
and
we're
not
constantly
sending
code
officers
to
repair
problems
that
already
exist.
D
Although
it
has
taken
place
over
multiple
weeks,
I
I
do
get
the
impression
that
the
assumption
is
that
this
will
be
rubber
stamped
and
that
a
lot
of
our
concerns
will
not
be
addressed
meaningfully
so
there.
D
In
conclusion,
there
are
a
lot
of
things
that
I
like
in
this
budget.
I
think
there
we
did
a
great
job
in
in
some
departments,
but
overall
I
cannot
wholeheartedly.
I
can
partially
support
the
budget.
I
cannot
wholeheartedly
support
this
budget.
As
a
you
know,
as
part
of
my
job
is
fiduciary
oversight
for
the
city
of
binghamton
and
for
my
constituents.
A
D
A
Okay,
can
someone
call
oh
call
the
question
customer
scoring?
Did
you
have
your
hand
up
you're,
muted,.
B
C
A
a
a
very
big
thank
you
to
everyone
involved
in
the
process.
All
all
my
obviously
fellow
council
members
want
to
give
a
big
big
shout
out
to
lori
and
chuck.
There
is
a
as
we
all
know,
as
we've
seen,
there's
a
lot
that
goes
into
this
and
the
two
of
them,
including
ken,
probably
have
an
incredible
amount
of
institutional
knowledge.
C
All
the
department
heads
corp
council
personnel,
councilman
strong,
you
did
a
great
job,
walking
us
through
those
few
weeks
as
finance
chair,
so
really
want
to
thank
all
of
your
work
and
as
well
as
obviously
everyone
on
council
thanks.
So
much.
E
Yeah,
thank
you,
madam
president.
Yes,
I
would
like
to
to
hope
that
that
next
year,
okay,
we
have
two
million
dollars
going
to
the
baseball
team,
which
we
don't
have
to
spend
again.
Next
year
we
have
millions
of
dollars
going
to
play
golf
which
hopefully
they'll
be
making
a
profit.
Next
year
we
can
save
that
two
million
dollars
and
then
we
can
then
begin
the
process
of
helping
in
the
neighborhoods.
E
As
my
two
colleagues
were
talking
about-
and
you
know
you
start
using
money
for
that
with
that
four
million
dollars
that
we
already
are
have
a
surplus
of,
if
we're
not
going
to
spend
it
again,
thanks.
D
E
A
A
Okay,
great
22
2022
budget
has
been
passed.
I
want
to
thank
everyone
for
all
your
hard
work
on
the
budget
this
year.
I
want
to
start
with
thanking
my
colleagues.
Thank
you
all
for
the
discussions
that
we've
had
and
the
time
that
we
spent
together
trying
to
do
the
best
that
we
can
in
coming
up
with
a
solid
budget
and
supporting
it.
I
think
we've
done
a
good
job
and
I
wanted
to
say
just
a
couple
of
big
thank
yous
to
laurie
and
chuck.
I've
done
so
much
work.
Thank
you.
A
We
appreciate
everything
that
you
do
certainly
corp,
council
and
everyone
in
that
office
and
the
mayor's
office
as
well
phil,
again
great
job.
Thank
you,
you're,
a
natural,
and
with
that
I
will
ask
for
a
motion
to
adjourn.