FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CUTS IN STATE AID FORCES CITY OF YONKERS TO REDUCE COSTS BY $21.6 MILLION.
YONKERS, NY – August 31, 2020 – Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano today announced that due to drastic cuts in state aid to municipalities and decreases in economically sensitive revenues, the City of Yonkers may be forced to reduce its costs by $21.6 million in the coming weeks. Slated cuts could include reductions in city programs, services and personnel.
Yonkers’ potential cuts come after its Fiscal Year 2021 Adopted Budget assumed full Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) of $21.6 million but since has been withheld by New York State due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the economically sensitive revenues that Yonkers relies upon are forecasted to have decreased by $45-50 million over the last and current Fiscal Years due to the pandemic.
“The rubber finally has met the road when it comes to the lack of aid to local municipalities,” said Mayor Spano. “The effects from Washington’s political jockeying and the lack of stimulus packages from the federal government and the state now have hit us. Big cities across the state, including Yonkers, have no recourse but to make severe expenditure cuts.”
Since 74% of the City’s budget is wage based, reductions in Yonkers’ costs likely will come from a combination of programs and an estimated 220 positions, both vacant and filled. In the coming weeks, the City Administration will determine what services and personnel will be affected and how.
Mayor Spano added, “These cuts are tough to make, ones that no mayor wants to do, especially since we’ve worked so hard over the last eight years to put Yonkers back on the road towards fiscal stability. But, if we don’t act now and continue not to receive aid, we will be in even more dire straits in Fiscal Year 2022, potentially halting many city operations.”
Mayor Spano added, in the meantime, his Administration will look to reduce its operating costs while maintaining active discussions with the Governor’s Office, Yonkers’ state delegation and its labor unions.
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