By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG – Concerns over a difficult budget season caused tension between Deputy Mayor Michael Morley and City Manager Sarah Purdy Monday.

Following a motion to accept the preliminary budget, Morley suggested modifying the proposal to say the city would make $1 million in cuts rather than borrow that amount as laid out in the current plan.

Ogdensburg Mayor Wayne Ashley and councilor Jennifer Stevenson suggested accepting the manager’s plan and then modifying it during the budgeting process, as has been tradition.

Stevenson said she would like to see the council come up with $1 million in cuts, but said that’s the next step and those cuts should be made during budget workshops, not in the preliminary document.

However, Morley said he would like to see the council acknowledge a commitment to $1 million in non-specific cuts included in the city’s manager’s plan.

Morley was not pleased with the proposal, which calls for borrowing $1 million in cuts and a 10.5 percent increase in taxes.

Morley said he had hoped Purdy’s preliminary budget would have included areas that could be targeted for potential cuts.

“You complained that prior councils and prior administrations have been kicking the can down the road, and then you want to kick the can down the road,” Morley said to Purdy.

Purdy said she didn’t intend to “kick the can down the road.” She said her proposal included $600,000 in cuts, but wanted the council’s input regarding deeper cuts. Purdy said deeper cuts would have affected programs “near and dear” to the councilor’s interests.

Purdy told Morley the budget process was a team effort and suggested the council has a tough road ahead.

As tensions rose, Mayor Wayne Ashley interjected calling for a vote to accept the working spending plan and set a date for public hearing in December.

Morley was the sole dissenting vote.

The tentative proposal issued by  Purdy recently includes borrowing $1 million, increasing the tax levy by more than $500,000 and calls for cutting services.

A second option presented in the budget proposal would forgo the borrowing, and instead raises the levy by $1.5 million.

Under the first option the city tax rate would rise 10.5 percent from $17.36 to $19.20 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Purdy said this will be about $183 more in taxes per year for the average homeowner.

If the city forgoes borrowing $1 million the tax rate would rise 31.8 percent to $22.89 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

The proposal would reduce funding for the public library and Remington museum by $29,340.

To better prepare for possible problems down the road, the new budget would grow the contingency frond by $171,719.