TROY – The state Comptroller’s office found the city’s proposed $73.6 million budget for 2018 to be reasonable, but warned that new garbage fees might be required to balance the spending plan, and that the city must be prepared to deal with the financial impact of settling its six expired union contracts.

The review of the proposed budget found the plan's projections were reasonable, and that its real property tax levy complied with the state's flexible cap.

“However, the proposed budget includes estimated revenues of $3.45 million for refuse and garbage fees to finance the City’s solid waste and recycling collection and disposal (waste and recycling) services, but the Council has not yet authorized or approved a combined waste and recycling fee to realize the estimated revenues,” the audit said.

The state has reviewed the annual proposed city budget since the 1990s, when it helped bail out the city from significant deficits. The city owes $24.6 million in Troy Municipal Assistance Corp. debt, and will pay $6.26 million in principal and interest this year.

Mayor Patrick Madden, a Democrat, said the state audit backed his approach to the city’s budget.

“The findings ... validate my administration’s efforts to construct a financially responsible, fact-based plan for 2018 that accurately calculates rates based on real departmental costs,” Madden said.

City Council President Carmella Mantello, a Republican, expressed concern about the trash fee as a "hidden tax."

The City Council currently is reviewing the mayor’s proposed 2018 budget. The council's General Service Committee is responsible for overseeing the public works department, which handles trash collection. It's slated to meet at 6 p.m. Monday.

“The Comptroller agrees with my concern that before any garbage fee could be implemented the city code has to be amended to authorize such a fee," Mantello said.

Under Madden’s budget proposal, a $190 tipping fee per residential unit would replace the recycling fee of $29.

The proposed budget would raise the city property tax rate by 16 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $13.99 per $1,000 in 2018 from the 2017 rate of $13.83 per $1,000.

The state budget review also noted the city does not have contracts with its six unions. The City Council is set to vote Thursday on a new contract with the Troy Police Benevolent Association; its contract expires at the end of the year.





