Hello Yonkers,
I am proud to announce that my colleagues and I on the City Council adopted the 2019-2020 Budget with a 6-1 vote. In April, Mayor Spano proposed his budget of $1.219 billion to us on the Council. We held a series of budget hearings in which we heard from all the department heads as well as public hearings in which the general public shared their concerns. After much deliberation and negotiations, we were able to amend the Mayor’s proposed budget and pass a good budget.
In this budget we have allocated $628,450,499 to the Yonkers Board of Education. We have increased funds to our public schools by $12 million and approved $4.6 million in our capital budget for text books and equipment.
We raised the property tax levy by 1.95% however, we have stayed within the NYS property tax cap. This means homeowners will receive a tax rebate this year based on your household income which will range from $724 to $1026. Due to New York City’s increased water rates of 9% and they supply our water, we had to increase water rates as well but by 6%.
Other highlights from the adopted budget:
- There are no layoffs to municipal employees.
- Provided $8 million to fix our roads.
- Secured $5.2 million in a contingency fund and we have cut back on departmental funds by over $10 million.
- Restored $100,000 for YMCA’s SNUG Program
- Allocated $200,000 for My Brothers Keeper (MBK)
I commend my colleagues who voted with me in favor of this year’s budget and I thank Mayor Spano for his leadership and working with the City Council to provide for all residents of Yonkers. In addition, I commend our State Delegation, Senator Cousins, Senator Mayer, Assemblyman Pretlow and Assemblyman Sayegh, for providing additional state aid to our public schools. It truly takes everyone, on all levels of government to work together to deliver for Yonkers.
I wish you all a happy Friday and a lovely weekend!
Warm Regards,
Shanae V. Williams
Office of the Yonkers City Council
Council Member- District 1
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