Tuesday, March 27, 2012
YOUNGSTOWN
A $1.67 million carryover from 2011 and an expected 2-percent increase in income-tax collections this year are allowing the city to use more money for demolition and reinstate a small-business-loan program.
The administration’s proposed $151,591,293 budget will be in front of city council Wednesday for a vote.
“The economy is turning, and the city’s financial numbers are getting better,” said Finance Director David Bozanich. “We’ll be able to spend money on council’s and the mayor’s priorities: slum and blight removal, economic development and the continued funding of safety forces.”
The city used a minimal amount of its own money in 2011 for demolition: The street department has a crew that takes down some vacant residential structures, Bozanich said.
The city relied last year on federal money, about $1 million, for residential demolition.
This year’s proposed budget includes $900,000 for residential demolitions, and that figure could grow, Bozanich said.
That money would likely go toward the match needed through a state housing demolition program being administered by the attorney general’s office.
The attorney general’s office set aside $75 million from its $335 million share of a national settlement with the country’s five-largest mortgage companies over foreclosure abuses, fraud and improper practices.
“This is a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity,” Bozanich said. “If need be, we’ll take funding from other sources and cut other budgets to provide more for demolition.”
The proposed budget also includes $200,000 for commercial demolition.
Also, there is $591,806 in the proposed budget toward the environmental cleanup of the vacant Wean United Building that will be demolished by its owner.
The city also will pay $269,553 toward the clean-up and demolition, except its facade, of the former Paramount Theatre.
Wean and Paramount are both in the city’s downtown.
The city’s street resurfacing program would be cut from about $1.1 million to about $800,000 this year, Bozanich said.
Not as many streets need to be repaved as in years past because of the mild winter, he said. But if the need arises, the city would take a look at restoring funding, Bozanich said.
The small-business initiative, which had its funding for new projects eliminated a couple of years ago because of the city’s financial problems, will get $1 million this year.
The Youngstown program offered low-interest loans of up to $100,000 to qualified businesses as well as grants of up to $50,000 for demolition work and waives fees for utility connections.
Also in the proposed budget is $32,500 for six months to hire a city planner, a position vacant for three years.
If approved by council, a planner would likely be hired to work the last six months of this year and then remain on staff. Another option is to hire a planning consultant.
The city’s budget must be approved, by law, no later than Saturday. But it’s common for the city to make adjustments to the budget, based on need and its financial situation, throughout the year.
The $151,591,293 proposed budget for this year is less than the 2011 budget of $153,048,010.
But that’s because there was about $5 million worth of economic development projects, with V&M Star being most of them, in 2011 that saw the city initially pay for improvement work and property acquisition, and then get reimbursed by the companies, Bozanich said.
City officials had projected income-tax collection for last year to be about $41.12 million. Instead, it finished 2011 with $43.95 million because of improvements to the local economy, Bozanich said.
The city had initially projected a $16,500 surplus for 2011, but finished the year with a $1,666,021.68 surplus.
The income-tax projection for 2012 is $44.9 million, the most the city would collect since $46.4 million in 2008.
The money comes from a 2.75 percent income tax imposed on those who work or live in the city and a 2.75 percent profit tax paid by companies in the city.
Photo