Long Beach holds public hearing on $108 million fiscal 2025–26 budget; council debates use of reserves and tax increase

City Manager Dan Creighton and City Controller Ina Rasnick presented a proposed $108 million fiscal 202526ndash;26 budget at a May 6 public hearing of the Council of the City of Long Beach, outlining a plan that the administration says keeps the city inside the New York State tax cap while using $2.7 million of unassigned fund balance.

The budget matters because it proposes a net increase in city expenditures of roughly $4 million (about 3.8 percent) driven by higher personnel and benefit costs, including pension and health insurance increases, a roughly $750,000 rise in property insurance and higher interfund transfers. The administration said those pressures, together with the loss of a roughly $2.5 million grant the city received in a prior year, create a shortfall the budget covers partly with the tax levy and partly with the fund balance.

"Were being conservative," City Manager Dan Creighton told the council and public, noting the budget is designed to maintain current service levels while leaving money in reserves for unexpected events. "The main thing for the next slide, I want to just point out, the main thing we try to accomplish for the city is to make sure that everybody's getting the services that they used to." City Controller Ina Rasnick said the administration prepared what it called a balanced budget and said improved reserve levels and stronger credit ratings have helped borrowing costs over recent years.

The proposal would keep the citys tax levy increase beneath the formal tax-cap calculation but, after accounting for exclusions the…