TROY, N.Y. -- Troy's mayor says he has lowered a proposed property tax increase in this year's budget to 23 percent, after first proposing a 28 percent increase.
The mayor released his revised plan Friday during a meeting with several Troy city council members.
The council majority, led by Council President Carmella Mantello, has said they will not vote to raise property taxes above 9.5 percent.
Mayor Madden says Friday's meeting was a chance to provide some analysis after the city council’s budget steering committee provided a series of recommendations to avoid a tax increase.
Among those are eliminating vacant positions and cutting some city jobs.
The mayor’s revised budget includes a hiring freeze and eliminating a number of vacant city jobs, as well as a reduction in spending from some departments.
"Going beyond this, going below the number we've presented today, will entail cut to services that will be noticeable to the public," Madden said. "We're not opposed to talking about that, and that's the purpose of this meeting."
"What we want as the other side of the coin, a more efficient run city, more effective run city, where there's going to be people overseeing this overtime, and overseeing this project, and trying to cut back and trying to eliminate some of the expenditures," said councilman Jim Gulli.
Both sides say if a deal is not reached, the city risks running out of money in the early summer.
Madden says that could mean up to 90 layoffs, and what he called, the “wholesale” elimination of city services.
The city council is scheduled to vote on the budget on Tuesday.