The Ithaca Common Council will vote on its 2025 budget Wednesday. A vote was scheduled for last week, but was delayed.
The $107 million budget is set to raise the tax levy by 8.58% from the previous year, increasing the amount many homeowners will pay in taxes. Under the latest version of the budget, homeowners will pay a tax rate of $11.89 per $1,000 in assessed property value. That means a homeowner with property valued at $350,000 would pay $4,161 in taxes.
Council members who voted in favor of delaying the budget at a meeting last week, said it would provide more time to make thoughtful amendments to the budget, rather than amending it on the fly during the meeting.
“I don't think it's really productive for us to sit here and continue to talk about things that are not specifics, other than we want city services and we would like taxes to be lower,” Alderperson Clyde Lederman said before voting to table the budget decision.
The vote last Wednesday was preceded by a public hearing, where some speakers asked the council to continue to work on lowering property taxes by making budget cuts.
Ithaca resident Lisa Strayer told the council that property taxes could force her out of the city.
“This budget, the cost of being here, I can't keep doing it. I'm looking for houses outside of the area, because I cannot afford these taxes,” Strayer said.
The council did make some budget reductions during the meeting.
They agreed to cut $50,000 in funding to Ithaca’s Bike-Share program. Some said the burden of payment should go to Cornell University, which doesn’t pay taxes on the majority of its property in the city.
Council members also cut around $30,000 in funding that could have gone to the mayor’s salary. In addition to that, $5,000 was cut from the council’s travel and training budget.
The next vote is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m., with an opportunity for residents to provide public comment on the budget at the start of the meeting.