Residents and property owners in the City of Elmira will have an opportunity Monday night to comment on a proposed 2026 city budget during a public hearing before the City Council takes a final vote.
The good news is the property tax bite in the tentative spending plan won’t be as big as city officials originally expected.
In early December, City Manager Michael Collins unveiled a proposed nearly $46.7 million budget that increases spending to address rising costs without significantly curtailing city services.
To balance the budget, Collins proposed a 12% increase in property taxes and a $912,000 appropriation from the general fund balance.
Since that time, Mayor Dan Mandell met with Chemung County Executive Christopher Moss to discuss a county proposal that would enable the city to limit that tax increase to 6%.
“We anticipate it will pass after the tax increase becomes 6% and not 12%. Most council members are on board with that,” Mandell said.
How a county, city agreement cut tax hike in half
Moss proposed the county executive’s office would amend the current tax foreclosure agreement to allow the county to advance the city’s uncollected taxes for 2025 — representing about $2 million.
For the past few years, the city wasn’t able to add money from uncollected taxes to the books until the following fiscal year, resulting in shortfalls in the current year, Mandell said.
With the original tax increase proposal, before the planned hike was cut in half, the tax liability for a property assessed at $50,000 would increase by nearly $180 for 2026, Collins said.
Collins also proposed cuts in services to help balance the budget, but those are minor, Mandell said, and include leaving some vacancies unfilled and spreading those responsibilities among remaining staff.
Why Elmira is facing budget challenges
Factors that led to the increase in total expenditures for 2026 include rising health insurance costs, employee wage adjustments, pension contributions and changes to the sales tax foreclosure agreement with Chemung County, Collins said.
Most of those factors will still be in play in the future, which is why Moss also strongly recommended the city ask the state comptroller’s office to conduct a comprehensive review of Elmira’s finances and recommend ways to strengthen the city’s fiscal situation.
Mandell supports that plan as well.
“We’ll look at ways to cut costs, watching our spending. If jobs open up we might leave them vacant if they don’t affect services,” he said. “It’s hard for most municipalities in New York state. Most of our budget goes into police and fire.”
Relevant budget documents are available online for public review at cityofelmirany.gov/183/Chamberlains-Office. The public hearing will take place at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in council chambers at Elmira City Hall, 317 E. Church St.
The council will vote on final approval of the budget following the hearing.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Elmira City Council set to vote on controversial budget. How to weigh in
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
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