Mayor vetoes revenue-sharing plan

Sullivan's proposed budget would direct the money to pay for city services.

The argument is not really about 2010 taxes though -- they would be close to the same under either the Assembly or the mayor's plan, Sullivan said.

The argument is over how much the city's tax cap will be allowed to grow in 2011 and beyond.

The cap limits the amount of added taxes that can be collected in any year based in part on the prior year's collections.

Sullivan's proposal would lower property tax collections in future years.

Under the mayor's plan, the tax cap will be $11 million less in 2011 than it would be under the Assembly plan, Sullivan said. That reduction to the tax cap base amount will carry forward into subsequent years.

The Assembly wanted to treat the state revenue-sharing money in a way that preserves the city's ability to tax at a higher level in future years.

A sponsor of the Assembly resolution, Mike Gutierrez, said when the Assembly passed it last week that the city should consider the state money as one-time funding that it might not get year to year.

If it's used to pay for city services, that might make it harder to pay for the same city services the next year if the state sends no money to the city, Gutierrez said.

But the Assembly passed the revenue-sharing resolution by only a 6-5 vote. It would take eight votes of its 11 members to override the mayor's veto.

There is some question as to whether Sullivan would have had to pay attention to the resolution even if he didn't veto it. He could have just ignored it, even some proponents of the resolution say.

But Sullivan said he vetoed it because "any resolution relating to the budget should be dealt with with great clarity."

Sullivan also noted the Assembly could write its own budget or amend his budget and treat revenue sharing differently than he would like.

Assemblyman Pat Flynn, who supported the Assembly resolution, agreed with the mayor on that point.

"Just because he vetoed it doesn't mean we can't do it," Flynn said. "We have a long way to go, a lot of conversations that have to take place before we have a budget."

Sullivan, in his first months as mayor, has proposed a $421 million city budget for 2010. He was elected on a hold-down-taxes platform last spring, and this clash over the state revenue-sharing money is one of his first fights with the Assembly over spending.

The Assembly is expected to finalize the budget this month.

Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call her at 257-4340.