Approved Troy budget comes with questions of balance

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The Troy City budget passed, by a slim margin with a vote of four in favor to three opposed. While the mayor is happy, council democrats are concerned that the numbers don't add up.

“It's all hands-on deck to put this budget together. The budget really is very creative. We are doing more with less,” said Troy City Mayor Carmella Mantello.

City Council President Sue Steele has concerns, “She likes to say we're going to do more with less and we at this point have 57 vacancies in the city workforce.” Steele says negotiations on five municipal union contracts are in the process. “There will have to be settlements with those unions and I'm not sure where that money is coming from.”

Mantello said, “We were able to absorb over $5 million of unfunded mandates like pension costs, bonding, bond payments, you name it, and we were able to absorb that.”

The garbage tax in Troy was a real concern for both leaders and citizens. Steele stated, “She has run for years on the fact that she was going to eliminate it. We still have it in the budget.”

 Mantello responded, “We were able to not raise that, which is huge. And what we plan to do next year is to build off that and hopefully phase out that garbage tax.”

Yet, there is the still concern over the budget being truly balanced. “It's a very conservative budget and we're very pleased. And now it's time to continue rolling up our sleeves, grinding it out and be out on the streets, keeping our streets safer and cleaner,” said the mayor.

“We as a council received no financial reports. The 2023 report was never filed accurately with the state controller. I mean, it presents no confidence in this budget,” said Steele.

Balanced or not, time will tell, which city leader is right.