From left, Jamestown City Court Judge John LaMancuso swears in Andrew Liuzzo as an At-Large Jamestown councilman Thursday at the Jamestown Municipal Building, located at 200 E. Third St. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

In a special ceremony Thursday, Andrew Liuzzo was sworn-in as an At-Large Jamestown councilman.

Liuzzo said he was eager to get to work representing the people of Jamestown, which is why he selected to be sworn-in Thursday instead of Monday. Jan. 8, when the Jamestown City Council will hold their organizational meeting.

“In order to best serve city residents, I will be sworn in (Thursday) by Judge John LaMancuso in the judge’s chamber. I’ll be a sitting city council member effective Jan. 1, per the language in the city charter,” Liuzzo said.

Prior to being sworn-in, The Post-Journal asked the first time elected official what he was looking forward to the most as a member of the council.

“I’m mostly looking forward to working for the people who got me elected,” he said. “I always want to listen and I want to know what the concerns are, and bring them to the council.”

One of Liuzzo’s first goals as a councilman is to get to work on the 2018 budget. In November, the council passed the 2018 spending plan with the hope the state of New York will once again fund the city of Jamestown additional state aid to get them out of debt. This is the second consecutive year city officials have had to count on additional state aid to balance the city budget.

In November, city officials announced they have been given reasonable assurance from state officials they will be receiving at least $946,679 in additional state aid to pass a balanced spending plan for next year. Last year, the council had an $824,926 deficit prior to approving the 2017 spending plan, which they did on the assurance that state officials would provide additional state aid. In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo included $1 million in the state budget for the city as part of his Buffalo Billions Phase 2 initiative.

“If we are contingent on resources coming from the state and they don’t materialize, we have to balance the budget,” Liuzzo said. “If we do receive resources from state, what about next year’s budget? There is a lot of work to do there. I don’t know how the council will feel about it, but I think we all want the same thing. Foremost in our minds should be how to get the budget under control.”

Liuzzo said he ran for political office for the first time in his life because he wanted to play a role in improving the quality of life for city residents.

See the Friday edition of The Post-Journal for complete coverage.