Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone (R) used the annual State of the City address to make a plea for state aid for education.

Amicone urged leaders in Albany to help the city?s 25,000 students who end up in a difficult financial position each year. He also said state leaders should readjust its financial aid formula so the city gets a fair share.

?Consider this, if New York state paid the same amount to educate each child in Yonkers as they do in Syracuse, it would mean an additional $80 million of state funding for our city,? Amicone told the audience.

The mayor also proposed an 8.5 percent increase for the 2009 budget proposal and says the county portion of local tax bills is going up 24 percent. Amicone is calling on Westchester to do a countywide reassessment of property values.

Amicone also called on city lawmakers to approve the billion-dollar River Park Center development project, which he says will bring millions in revenue.

Text of the Yonkers 2008 State of the City AddressCity of Yonkers News Release