Binghamton City Council unanimously voted to adopt the proposed 2014 budget Wednesday night. All seven council members voted to adopt the $88.5 million budget, $75,000 less than Mayor Matt Ryan’s (D) original proposed budget. The budget has a less than 1 percent tax increase: residential homesteads will see a 0.13 percent increase, and commercial non-homesteads will see a 0.84 percent increase. City council worked for over a month to cut down the budget. They decided to get rid of an unmarked police car, slimmed down the salary of the Chief Information Officer and Supervisor of City Streets. No jobs were cut with the adopted budget, but instead there are ten additional jobs created, including: three police officers, two fire fighters, and two code enforcement officers. The adopted budget will now go back onto Ryan’s desk. He says he will carefully look over city council’s changes and he looks forward to signing a responsible budget.
