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State of the City of Corning

Updated Monday, February 04, 2013

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Corning City leaders will need to focus on building a hefty tax base to prevent city deficits and residents from being over-taxed in the future.

February 4, 2013
Corning (WENY) - Corning City leaders will need to focus on building a hefty tax base to prevent city deficits and residents from being over-taxed in the future. City Manager Mark Ryckman says there are three pressing issues he wants the council to focus on. To build that tax base and make sure the city stays financially stable over the next few years. In the eyes of City Manager Rykman the three most pressing issues are, infrastructure improvements, aging housing stock, and economic development.
      Rykman suggested tonight that city council members start looking at addressing these three issues with strategic plans. 70 percent of the houses in the city of corning were built before 1960, and by improving the housing stock it could help bring in new residents. Rykman wants to see an economic development strategy to grow the tax base by looking at ways to entice private sector development. He also said a lot of time is focused on community development projects, but the city could be in trouble if they don't focus on economic development as well.
      “I think what we can say is that we are financial stable we do a lot of financial planning we had our audit presentation last week and our audit is in good shape but that dosen't mean we're flushed with money we still have to be prudent in how we move forward with our property taxes and how much money we spend,” says Rykman.
     In Corning, pension costs over the past 10 years have gone from $48,000 to more than $1 million and retiree health insurance costs are rising at an alarming rate.