Erie city leaders are weighing a series of difficult options as they look to stabilize the city’s finances.

Recommendations the mayor presented to the city council include additional position reductions, continued department spending reviews and a tax increase next year.

Longer-term options range from restructuring debt to potentially selling the city-owned Downing Golf Course.

“I can’t imagine a scenario in which we don’t include a tax increase in the 2027 budget. What that tax increase is, how much, we’re not ready to talk about yet. But I think it’s important for us to lay the groundwork and PFM is saying there will need to be one in 2027,” Mayor Daria Devlin said during the City Council Caucus meeting on August 19.

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City council will ultimately have a say in many of those decisions, with members now weighing how to raise revenue without placing too much of the burden on residents.

“You can’t tax yourself out of debt. You’ve got to restructure to make things happen, and it’s tough. I for one won’t touch police and fire,” said Councilman Ed Brzezinski.

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“A debt restructuring and or a dedication of one-time revenue — for example if we did do something like sell Downing Golf Course — could we use that one-time revenue to pay down our debt? Because we know we are facing a debt cliff in 2033. We need to start thinking about that,” Devlin said.

Brzezinski said there will be tough choices ahead to tackle the financial challenges occurring for the city

“You’re not talking about cuts of money, you’re talking about cuts of people. That makes it a lot tougher,” Brzezinski said.

The recommendations also call for modest annual tax increases in future budgets and exploring additional ways to reduce personnel, health insurance and debt costs.

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