Extra budget session set

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City council has scheduled an additional budget work session for 10 a.m. Wednesday in an effort to lower Mayor Wayne Alexander's proposed 2006 tax increase.
To discuss the matter, council postponed its vote Thursday on the mayor's proposed 2006 budget. A special session has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday to take the vote on the budget plan.
The mayor's proposed $12.7 million 2006 budget calls for a 2-mill increase in property taxes. One mill generates $422,000 a year. Council, however, is looking to cut costs in various ways, such as decreasing employee overtime and eliminating a number of services, including the citywide spring cleanup.
Council President Christine Sands presented several amendments to the mayor's spending plan Thursday night. Sands said the changes could cut budget by $300,000.
Changes proposed
Council discussed several proposed changes during two recent work sessions, but it determined the city would not be able to decrease the mayor's proposed tax increase. However, Sands said she later made several adjustments after conferring privately with council members Karen DeCarlo and Rob Ratkovich.
On Thursday, the mayor said he thinks the changes were made inappropriately because at least two council members, as well as city administrators, had not been notified of them before the meeting. Last year the city adopted a $12,104,284 budget.