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Brooklyn finance director: city will avoid small debt issuance for $14M pool project, use onetime revenue and reserves
Summary
Finance director reported $2 million in one-time income and said the city will not issue a planned note for a small remaining balance on the pool renovation project; the tax budget for FY2026 was introduced on first reading and city leaders say property taxes will not increase.
The Brooklyn finance director reported that the city will not issue a planned short-term debt note to cover a small portion of a $14 million pool renovation project, instead using one-time revenue and general fund reserves.
Finance Director Raguse told the council that the cityhad budgeted a $14,000,000 amount for phase one of the pool project and had planned to issue a note of $2,090,000. After the May distributions from the regional tax authority, the city received about $2,000,000 in one-time, nonrecurring revenue; $1,700,000 of that was posted to the general fund. Raguse said that after applying the nonrecurring revenue, the remaining planned note would have been $390,000 and that, "instead of issuing debt for $390,000 we will forego issuing this debt and instead pay it down with future one-time revenue or from the general fund reserves that we currently have. So we are not planning on taking out additional debt as far as this project is concerned."
Separately, the finance committee introduced Resolution 2025-13, the tax budget for fiscal year 2026, on first reading. Council leadership reported no change in the property-tax rate: the city will remain at 5.9 mills and continues to be under the 10-mill inside millage threshold that a municipality can levy without a public vote.
The finance director also reported year-to-date general fund figures for April: revenues were about 38% of the estimated annual amount, 8% higher than the prior year primarily because of the one-time revenue; commitments were 38% of estimated amounts, roughly 6% higher than last year driven in part by timing and increased landfill and dispatch costs. Raguse said the city will set aside nonrecurring income to offset capital costs and is avoiding issuing the small remaining debt because issuance costs and interest would be uneconomical.
The council did not take final action on the tax budget during the meeting; the resolution remains on first reading.
