The City of Utica finalized its budget and property owners will see a 13.95% tax increase.
Mayor Michael Galime's initial proposed $87 million budget included a 16.5% tax hike. He proposed the budget in February, saying they need to take action because the strength in the fiscal policy is diminishing.
"Over the years, there's things we haven't taken account," Galime said. "We haven't taken account appropriately over the last, especially the last six years contractual costs in our budget, inflation, infrastructure costs, repairs, lost or unadjusted revenue. Without any action, now, what we're kind of walking off of is the fiscal cliff."
The Utica Common Council passed a series of amendments to the budget, largely along party lines which put the property tax increase at 7.8%. The mayor vetoed 19 of the 33 amendments and during a special meeting of the Common Council, the council was unable to override any of the vetoes.
