Photo by Joanne Beck
After Monday’s latest city budget session — which grew contentious at times — at least two City Council members said they are against any tax increases, while City Manager Rachael Tabelski has made it clear that maintaining the status quo for a tax levy isn’t feasible to continue the same or better level of services.
Councilman-at-large Bob Bialkowski said early on that he wouldn’t go for a tax increase, and Councilwoman Tammy Schmidt later said that since she’s been representing Ward Six, the total budget has gone from $29 million to $33 million to this year’s proposed $37 million, and a $4 million-per-year increase for the budget is “not sustainable.”
Her comments came on the heels of the police department budget presentation, which included a report recommendation from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to increase the force by five officers, from 20 to 25, at a cost of $84,500 each, which includes starting salary, FICA, retirement and holiday pay. Medical would add another $12,000. There was no discussion about uniforms, equipment and vehicles for additional officers.
“I mean, the budget’s up over a million dollars; that’s just the police budget," Schmidt said. "I think we could try to add one a year, but I don't think, I wouldn't vote for a tax increase at all, I can already tell you that. My constituents live in a poor district, I have to represent Ward Six. And my ward isn't going to go for even a penny, because the water bills are up, you want a storm sewer tax -- I won’t vote for that either, because my constituents call me all the time, and I won’t vote for a tax increase, because I’m sure the assessments are going up. We can’t raise the bills every year in the city of Batavia when 80 percent of the people are at poverty level. You know, the people sitting around this table might not have a problem.”
At that point, Schmidt got cut off by her fellow council members and city staff offering input about her comments. City Manager Rachael Tabelski questioned the 80 percent figure, which Schmidt said she surmised from the school district’s free supplies program.
The city school district does offer a free and reduced lunch program, per the New York State Nutrition Department, which has federal funding support. School districts must be eligible based on their specific poverty rates and have to apply for approval. Batavia City School District is eligible because it has an “Identified Student Percentage of 40 percent or higher according to building level data,” per the district’s website.
As for an actual poverty level, the latest U.S. Census numbers put the city’s poverty at 13.3 percent, compared to the overall Genesee County level at 10 percent.
There was further discussion and debate about income levels in the city. Tabelski said that there are some 45 percent people in the city making at least $60,000 a year, to which Schmidt replied that she couldn’t survive on that income, and she knows the city manager’s household makes much more than that.
The median household income, according to 2022 Census Bureau figures, was $54,937 for the city of Batavia. The median income is in the middle of the income range, from lowest to highest, so about half are lower and half are higher. The per-capita (what an individual makes) income in 2022 dollars is $34,517.
Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said he understood Schmidt’s concern.
“And we have to understand also that a lot of people here expect a certain service, and they want to be safe, and they want their streets to be safe. And we are very safe if you look at us, because we're also putting money aside, we're putting money in reserves," he said. "Some of this increase in the police budget includes the current budget for last year, that 80,000 some dollars isn't covered over into this budget, so then technically, it doesn’t count because we were supposed to spend it in last year's budget and it's being brought over.”
Tabelski further clarified that “we settled the contract before wages to be included. We took from the contingency, so you're not even comparing apples to apples. Last year's budget for this year is not the same comparison,” she said.
The 2023 adopted budget for the police department was $4,374,567, and the proposed 2025 budget is $5,048,862. This includes personnel of 20 patrol officers, with one vacancy, five detectives — one for juvenile and one for narcotics — one supervising detective, the police chief and assistant chief and two school resource officers, both paid for by the school district but supplied vehicles by the department.
The department has been interviewing for a crossing guard position, and Tabelski proposed the creation of a full-time confidential secretary position to add to the current full-time records clerk and a part-time clerk. She also suggested that the part-time clerk position would be kept on the books, though the job may not actually get filled.
During that conversation, Tabelski abruptly suggested that the council go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Since, per the open meeting law, that general statement is not a sufficient explanation for a private discussion, The Batavian asked if the meeting was to discuss a specific person, and Tabelski said yes.
A few minutes later, the open meeting resumed, and Tabelski said the confidential secretary position would be part of the police budget. If council opted to add those five extra patrol officers, that would mean an extra $425,000 in expenses, “that we’re going to have to start to plan for, either in this budget or the next,” Tabelski said.
Jankowski is in favor of a “slow, work-toward-this policy” so that the group can evaluate the city’s needs before jumping into a costly move to add extra personnel, he said.
There may come a point when there is no choice, Tabelski said.
“Councilman Bialkowski, I have the greatest respect for you, but you can't tell me to keep taxes the same and still deliver the same service, then say you're the manager, you figure it out. As my legislative counterpart, we’re here together to work on this. These meetings are more robust than they've ever been because we want to be completely transparent,” she said. “I get the budget from the department heads. I'm slashing and burning budgets, they hate me for a month and a half, then I come here, and do my best to sit down with our department heads and try to give you all the information of what we are doing, and we just heard a lot of maintenance … and we’ve gotta pay the piper.
“And this is really what we wanted to talk to you about. We understand that everyone’s costs have gone up, but I do believe the average citizen expects a small incremental increase in what they’re paying to keep the city services here,” she said. “I absolutely believe that’s the case 90 percent of the time. We will face $2 to $3 in tiny, incremental changes.”
