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The final proposal is still not ready for the public's

Mount Vernon sets hearing consideration and it won't be released until Monday,
on $86.8M spending plan though Edwards said the tax-rate increase may only
change slightly, if at all. Even after it is released, the
document may change because, on Thursday, the
Board of Estimate and Contract announced special
MOUNT VERNON — The City Council is considering
morning meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
a 2011 budget that trims expenses in some
departments, while raising its own appropriation.
The increased appropriation for the City Council
includes $50,000 for a public relations firm that
Under a revised 2011 proposal, homeowners face a
could help the body transmit its messages to
$140.72 tax increase, bringing the average
residents, Edwards explained. There is also money
municipal tax bill to $3,272.40.
to pay for a staffer to give the council legal advice.
The public will have a chance to opine on the $86.8
Edwards called the rushed, last-minute budget
million spending plan at the council's public
deliberations a blow to transparency because it is
hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the City Council
unfair to a public busy with holidays and vacations.
Chambers. The council also has scheduled meetings
The City Charter calls for the mayor to submit his
Wednesday and Thursday to adopt a budget, which
proposed budget by Sept. 14 but he did not do so
takes effect Jan. 1.
until late November.
The revised 2011 budget was adopted by the city's
Board of Estimate and Contract on Dec. 17. The
three-person board's decision was not unanimous:
Council President J. Yuhanna Edwards and
Comptroller Maureen Walker supported it; Mayor
Clinton Young was opposed.

Young proposed an $88.9 million spending plan in

November with a 5.5 percent tax-rate increase that
would have cost the average homeowner an extra
$173.44.

In the past week Young has repeatedly attacked the

revised proposal, calling it "dangerous" and
"unconscionable" because it reduces funding for
police, youth services and public works.

"The alternative budget cuts managerial positions, Advertisement

staff and equipment in DPW, which directly violates
union contracts and exposes the City to expensive
litigation," Young wrote in a letter posted on the
city's website last week. "More importantly, these
cuts will dramatically reduce the city's ability to
respond to emergencies and infrastructure repairs."

Young is now proposing a budget with a 1.8

percent tax-rate increase, but Edwards rejected that
proposal as "disingenuous ."

"Why didn't he do this from the get-go?" Edwards

said Thursday. "The reason he couldn't do it is
because he couldn't make the decision of who had
to go."

The revised budget envisions layoffs for three or

four city workers.

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