City to balance budget without layoffs

By David Skolnick | November 23, 2010 at 12:08a.m.

Youngstown finance director David Bozanich

YOUNGSTOWN

The city will use a combination of federal dollars and money from businesses for capital-improvement projects to balance this year’s general-fund budget.

The city will balance the budget without layoffs or selling or leasing any of its assets, said Finance Director David Bozanich.

The city was on pace to finish the year with a general-fund deficit of $1.5 million to $2 million.

There are two main reasons there won’t be a deficit, Bozanich said.

First, the city saved general-fund money when it received about $1.2 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds unused by Mahoning County for housing demolition. Not all of the demolition projects funded by that grant would have come from general-fund money, Bozanich said.

But the NSP money cut the city’s general-fund deficit to less than $1 million, he said.

Also, the city is putting some money it receives from private businesses for capital-improvement projects in the general fund to balance it and borrow that amount over a longer period of time to pay for the work, Bozanich said.

That money will come from work being done at the Brier Hill industrial site, where V&M Star is building its $650 million expansion project.

The increased tax revenue the city would receive from that expansion would cover the interest on the money the city will borrow, Bozanich said.

How much money will be borrowed will be determined in mid-December, he said.

Income tax revenue, projected to be $41.8 million this year, is about $500,000 behind schedule, but the city is hoping for an increase in December, he said.

The city, which employs about 750, has no plans for layoffs, he said.