Brian Sharp

@SharpRoc

Mayor Lovely Warren will deliver the final State of the City address of her current term on Monday — a speech surely to proclaim a city on the move, as she faces re-election, and surely to be matched by equally strident statements from her opponents that Rochester is an aimless city in disarray.

Monday's address kicks off an important stretch for the administration, eyeing release of its 2017-18 Capital Improvements Plan later in the week and the mayor's budget proposal on May 19.

The city is facing a $50 million budget gap, the largest of Warren's administration, and unmatched since 2011-12.

But don't expect Warren to delve into the details on Monday. That time will come next month. The annual State of the City is about broad strokes, typically a chance for the mayor to champion accomplishments of the past year and set out, in general terms, an agenda for the year ahead.

►2014: Warren's inauguration, "We can make things better"

►2015: Warren's first State of the City, "Our best days are ahead"

►2016: Warren's second State of the City, Rochester is "ready to lead again"

What to watch for in the State of the City address, which begins Monday at 7 p.m.:

►The campaign: Crime rates, jobs figures, development, and pre-K enrollment. These are the highlights of the mayor's campaign pitch, and align nicely with standard State of the City fodder. This being an election year, they should get top billing as the mayor likely will stick to the central themes of her administration: jobs, safe neighborhoods, better schools/educational opportunities, while sprinkling in some feel-good items like the new dog park at Cobbs Hill.

►New versus old: How much does the mayor talk about the year ahead? Will she announce locations for police precinct offices? There are plans, and a documented need for, an overhaul of the city's planning functions. It's not an exciting speech topic but one that underlies efforts to further new investment in the city. Will she lay out a vision for downtown and, for that matter, the next stage of the city's neighborhood investment strategies?

►Education: Will Warren — who once sought to position herself as the education mayor — propose a new initiative to tackle one of the city's most intractable problems? The mayor's role in this area is limited. But she promised during her 2014 inauguration that she would fight to improve city schools "with the fierceness of a parent." Last year, she proposed establishing a receivership district for troubled city schools, under the mayor's oversight. That hasn't happened. And while she has pushed to increase pre-K enrollment, educational programing in rec centers and access to college financial aid, the on-time graduation rate for city students remains below 50 percent.

If you are looking any further for what the mayor is likely to highlight, the setting is CGI Communications on East Main Street, opposite the Hyatt, which is being renovated, and the Hilton Garden Inn, which opened in 2015, and down the street from Sibley, and Midtown (think Parcel 5), and The Metropolitan, the Lincoln Alliance Building, 88 Elm. You get the picture.

BDSHARP@Gannett.com

Previous city budget gaps

2016-17 $41.2

2015-16 $34.8

2014-15 $37.5

2013-14 $42.7

2012-13 $24.8 (with one-time spin-up)

2011-12 $50 million