Utica Common Council Approves City Budget Within 2% Tax Cap
By: Rachel Polansky
Updated: March 20, 2013
The votes have been taken on how the city of Utica will spend its
taxpayers' money. The city council voted and the new tax increase for
Utica stands at 1.99%, just within the state's 2% property tax cap.
After discussing 50 amendments and making cuts across the board, most council-members were happy not to exceed the tax cap. But with every good comes the bad - and in this case there were sacrifices.
"There are some casualties here. Police cars were the casualties, overtime lines were casualties," says Councilman Edward Bucciero.
One of the the decisions was cutting the funds for new police cars. Councilmen say that could save nearly $140-thousand dollars, but the Utica Chief of Police says it's not the right call.
"People think that police cars are a luxury, that's how we deliver our services. The reality is this, it's a safety issue for both the public and the officers," says Chief Mark Williams, Utica Police Department.
Councilman Bucciero says this years budget process was one of the toughest he could remember, but at the end of the day...
"We got to where we wanted to be. We wanted this budget to come in at 2 percent, we worked extremely hard," says Councilman Bucciero.
Another cut, the 10% slash to overtime in several budget lines. Councilmen say compared to last year's budget that had a nearly 10% tax increase, tax payers should be pleased.
"We started last year with a $9-million dollar hole this year was basically a $3 million dollar hole so we kept our lines where they should've been," says Councilman Joe Marino.
"And we wouldn't have got to 2% if if we didn't do a lot of these decisions last year," says Councilman Bucciero.
Still - not everyone agrees.
"That political mantra doesn't cut it. The reality is we struggle to do the same with less and it doesn't work," says Chief Williams.
Utica's nearly $65-million dollar budget did pass the council unanimously - and with a 1.99% tax increase, that's as close to a 2% tax cap as you can get.
After discussing 50 amendments and making cuts across the board, most council-members were happy not to exceed the tax cap. But with every good comes the bad - and in this case there were sacrifices.
"There are some casualties here. Police cars were the casualties, overtime lines were casualties," says Councilman Edward Bucciero.
One of the the decisions was cutting the funds for new police cars. Councilmen say that could save nearly $140-thousand dollars, but the Utica Chief of Police says it's not the right call.
"People think that police cars are a luxury, that's how we deliver our services. The reality is this, it's a safety issue for both the public and the officers," says Chief Mark Williams, Utica Police Department.
Councilman Bucciero says this years budget process was one of the toughest he could remember, but at the end of the day...
"We got to where we wanted to be. We wanted this budget to come in at 2 percent, we worked extremely hard," says Councilman Bucciero.
Another cut, the 10% slash to overtime in several budget lines. Councilmen say compared to last year's budget that had a nearly 10% tax increase, tax payers should be pleased.
"We started last year with a $9-million dollar hole this year was basically a $3 million dollar hole so we kept our lines where they should've been," says Councilman Joe Marino.
"And we wouldn't have got to 2% if if we didn't do a lot of these decisions last year," says Councilman Bucciero.
Still - not everyone agrees.
"That political mantra doesn't cut it. The reality is we struggle to do the same with less and it doesn't work," says Chief Williams.
Utica's nearly $65-million dollar budget did pass the council unanimously - and with a 1.99% tax increase, that's as close to a 2% tax cap as you can get.
