Mayor says Beacons "state of the city" remains excellent; highlights budget discipline, new fire station and infrastructure projects

Mayor (role/title: Mayor, City of Beacon) opened the meeting with the citys annual State of the City address, saying Beacons "state of the city remains excellent" and reviewing accomplishments and priorities for 2025.

The mayor said the citys combined operating budget for 2025 is $36,000,000 and that the total property tax levy for 2025 is $13,200,000, a 3.8% increase from the prior year that he noted remains below inflation and below the state tax cap. He credited a 10-year county sales-tax-sharing agreement negotiated in 2023, which he said has increased annual sales tax receipts to about $6.2 million and produced roughly $1.3 million more than prior years, and continued private new construction that added $37,000,000 to the tax base last year and $178,000,000 over the past five years.

The mayor also outlined two new revenue sources proposed in the 2025 budget: a 2% occupancy tax on hotels and short-term rentals and a local share of the state cannabis tax from in-city dispensaries. He referenced the citys AA2 bond rating from Moodys as a factor that lowers borrowing costs.

"If you get this right, everything else comes from this," the mayor said, emphasizing fiscal discipline as the foundation for other investments.

On public safety, the mayor highlighted the on-time, on-budget opening last year of a new $14,700,000 central fire station. He said the facility is all-electric, uses geothermal wells and has a historically sympathetic façade; the city plans to sell two older firehouses in 2025 with conditions to protect historic features and intends to replace the current ladder truck in a future procurement. He noted police staffing remains constrained by retirements and national recruitment pressures, that the city added a civilian dispatcher in 2024, and that Tom Figlia was appointed the citys new police chief. The city also provided a second year of funding for Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BVAC) and continues to fund advanced life support ambulance services.

The mayor described ongoing infrastructure work, including the multi-year rehabilitation of Teller and Fishkill avenues, a project he said is more than half complete and on schedule for summer 2025 despite unexpected below-ground discoveries. He said the city avoided losing $9,000,000 in state and federal funding by prioritizing right-of-way acquisition and final engineering. Other capital work cited included citywide water meter replacement to smart meters, a new West Main pump station and force main, box-culvert repairs under Washington Avenue, wastewater treatment plant upgrades and transfer-station improvements.

On parks and quality-of-life investments, the mayor said the Recreation and Parks programming budget exceeded $1 million in 2024 for the first time and listed recent capital work at Memorial Park, Green Street Park and South Avenue Park. He noted ribbon cuttings for a rebuilt toddler playground and promised additional upgrades in 2025, including refurbished tennis and basketball courts and public restrooms at South Avenue Park.

On climate and sustainability, the mayor said Beacon is a New York State Silver-certified Climate Smart Community, will install photovoltaics on the highway garage in 2025, already generates over 70% of its electricity locally from solar, has added EV chargers at the new fire station and expanded municipal composting and tree-planting efforts (55 trees planted in 2024).

He closed by thanking city staff and volunteers, noting a new three-year contract with CSEA covering half the workforce and upcoming negotiations with police and fire unions.

The address framed the citys priorities for 2025 as continued fiscal discipline, public safety and infrastructure modernization, parks and recreation investment, climate leadership and good government. The mayor invited continued council and public engagement on the listed projects.