LACKAWANNA, N.Y. — You asked, and now we're answering.
"It doesn't make any sense. Where did the money come from? Now, all of a sudden, the County Executive Mark Poloncarz came, and now we're down to 4%," Dean Smith said.
Smith represents many Lackawannians who are confused about Mayor Annette Iafallo's proposed budget.
However, for a quick recap, the City of Lackawanna's Mayor proposed a nearly 24% property tax hike, causing taxpayers to pay an extra $378 a year in taxes. Fast forward to Thursday night, that hike was scratched and reduced to 4.6%, bringing it down to $77. Thus, leading us here with Smith.
2 On Your Side met with Mayor Iafallo about the resident's questions.
"We all meet here," she said. "Every department has its time to come in. They tell me their wants, their needs for the department, and then we ran the numbers, and we came back, and it was high."
She says she knew it wasn't going to pass. That's why there's a combined $2.3 million is being used to fill the gap.
Also, $1.2 million is from the new City Hall project, and $1.1 million is from the city's savings account. She says she didn't want to touch the City Hall project funds.
However, money taken out from one area has to be replaced somehow.
"There are other grants — monies that are sitting there that we had to move from our bank — the taxpayer's savings account, into that account to cover when these bills come in from the grants, and then we're reimbursed and put back into the savings account," Mayor Iafallo says.
The county gave $800,000, which county executive Poloncarz was quick to address.