By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Council supported City Manager Sarah Purdy’s plan to acquire payments in lieu of taxes from tax-exempt entities within the city.

At previous meetings Purdy said some municipalities have been successful in establishing such relationships with not-for-profits and religious organizations.

Purdy said the task will require tact and is akin to ballroom dance.

“We have to be graceful about it and we have to make sure we don’t step on our partner’s toes,” she said.

Mayor Wayne Ashley commended Purdy and said he believed there is merit to the request, noting that all organizations in the city benefit from fire and police services, but only private businesses and taxpayers are footing the bill.

At a previous meeting she pointed out that 59 percent of all property in Ogdensburg is tax exempt, while the remaining 41 percent foots the bill for services.

Details on the plan are vague, but it is part of a larger effort by the city manager to address the city’s dangerously low fund balance.

“Unless we change status quo general fund balance will be gone by 2019,” she said at previous meeting.

Purdy says 70 percent of general fund spending goes to wages and benefits. She said the city must work with its unions to come up with contracts that the city can actually afford.

Other potential cost saving measures Purdy recommended investigating were not refilling positions, reconfiguring jobs, deferring equipment purchases, reducing frequency of services and analyzing health insurance.

Purdy said that the upcoming budget season will be crucial to ensuring the city’s cash flow situation doesn’t fall to levels where its forced to borrow money just to get by.