Council schedules budget sessions

A series of Common Council committee sessions have been set to examine various parts of Mayor Steve Noble’s proposed 2021 budget.

Noble unveiled a $43.2 million budget for 2021 on Friday, Oct. 16 that he said will allow the city to invest in programs and services relied upon by residents while decreasing spending and holding the line on property taxes.

A public hearing on the budget will kick off the examination. It will be held on Friday, Oct. 23 beginning at 5 p.m.

Those who want to speak at the public hearing can sign up with the city clerk by noon on Friday, Oct. 23 by emailing emtinti@kingston-ny.gov

The hearing will be livestreamed on the City of Kingston YouTube channel, available at https:// bit.ly/KingstonYT/

The public may call in toll-free at (866) 899- 4679, passcode, 231864837.

Other upcoming sessions of the council’s Finance Audition Committee are as follows. Each will start at 6:30 p.m. and can be seen on the city’s YouTube channel.

• Monday, Oct. 26: Meeting with the Department of Public Works and Wastewater Department.

•Monday, Nov. 2: Committee meets with Police Department.

•Wednesday, Nov. 4: Committee meets with Fire Determent and Building Safety Division.

• Monday, Nov. 16: Committee meets with Parks and Recreation Department.

• Monday, Nov. 17: Committee meets with City Hall Department leaders.

• Monday, Nov. 23: Committee wraps up budget meetings, scheduled to make recommendations to the full Common Council.

The council is expected to decide on the budget in December.

In a brief video address from City Hall (posted online at bit.ly/kingston-budvid), Noble has said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on municipal budgets across the country, Kingston will be able to withstand the economic fallout without impacting programs or services.

“We will weather this storm because we were prepared for it,” the mayor said. “Our community has already lost so much, and it is my commitment to contain to protect the financial stability of our city and its taxpayers while dealing with the increased costs during this difficult time.”

Noble’s $43,150,435 budget — which still must be reviewed, and can be revised, by the Common Council — calls for the city to spend $1.3 million, or 3%, less than the $44.5 million in the adopted 2020 budget.

The 2021 proposal calls for no layoffs of city employees and, for the sixth consecutive year, keeps the property tax levy at about $17.7 million.

Noble’s budget also calls for the city to draw down $1.37 million from the city fund balance to help close the gap between anticipated spending and revenues.