Youngstown budget about $20M more than 2014

YOUNGSTOWN

The city administration’s proposed $179.7 million budget for 2015 is about $20 million more than what the city spent last year.

About $14.5 million in additional expenses are going toward major long-term water and wastewater improvements. Those two departments are self-sustaining, meaning they are funded through the fees charged to their customers.

City officials said the budget changes throughout the year. They point to the budget approved by city council last year — $166.7 million — and how much was actually spent — $160.2 million.

“It’s a living, breathing document that often changes,” said Mayor John A. McNally. “Department heads don’t go out and spend money because it’s in the budget.”

Also, some of the money in the budget is passed through the city without seeing any of it, said Deputy Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

An example is $5.5 million the city receives in tax-increment financing from Vallourec Star as a result of its $1.1 billion expansion in 2013. Vallourec makes property-tax payments and then gets 75 percent of it refunded with the other 25 percent going to the Girard school district. The facility is in Youngstown, but originally was in Girard with money going to that city’s school system.

The $5.5 million is treated as a revenue and an expenditure, which increases the city’s budget, even though the city doesn’t get any of it, Miasek said.

Get more details on the budget in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.