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Utica City Budget
The City of Utica has an annual budget covering all services provide and budgeting is overseen by a Budget Director who works with the Mayor. The mayor's office presents a budget and then the Common Council can modify and or vote on it. The City Charter requires each Department Head to submit their budget requests to the mayor before January 15th.
Can Utica, should Utica, try to build a downtown hospital that requires bulldozing a significant portion of it's Central Business District (CBD)? We say absolutely not! What are the financial condition of Utica, current and future debt expenses/demands, and the city's future outlook for revenues? Bonding is no small issue either! Other have also question the status of PILOT deals. Another aspect of city budgeting are federal CDBG program dollars.
Utica is certainly not Chicago! However in the story titled, Chicago Has Another Bond for You: The city may try to paper over its pension woes with new debt, "bond indebtness of cities" is highlighted.
The world seems to runs on debt, but Budgets are key and when ignored situations like this City Council in Harrisburg Files Petition of Bankruptcy, occur.
We're looking at Albany's 2019 Budget for comparisions and insights on Utica's budget.
UticaOD Budget Headlines
We're tracking headlines and conversations, investigating and illustrating our findings below...
2022
March 4, 2022 - Consider, 3rd Ward Councilperson Celeste Friend offers, "How Utica Works: The Budget".
2020
July 10, 2020 - Utica parks department copes with pandemic
June 30, 2020 - LED streetlights coming to Utica next week. The City of Utica and New York Power Authority will be replacing more than 7,500...
April, 30, 2020 - View a $2,9i5,000 City of Utica Bond Offering
April 22, 2020 - Utica Common Council juggles public input amid coronavirus
April 9, 2020 - Less money, late start for Utica street repairs. Mayor Robert Palmieri said some streets slated for construction this year may not...
March 20, 2020 - Utica Common Council passes $72.5 million budget
March 19, 2020 - Utica isn't planning coronavirus budget adjustments — yet
March 16, 2020 - Utica Common Council moves budget hearing, vote to Friday
March 8, 2020 - Two hheadlines today; Utica Council looks at raises for mayor, comptroller and, How tax breaks affect the bottom lines in Utica, Rome.
March 4, 2020 - "The two largest portions of the city's budget were ..." Utica Common Council reviews police, fire budgets
March 3, 2020 - Read, For Growing Numbers of Struggling U.S. Cities, the Downturn Has Arrived. Where one reads, "A boom in some big metropolitan areas has masked fiscal weakness in cities tied to shrinking industries..."
"Bond and pension liabilities owed by roughly 1,000 U.S. cities ballooned nearly 25% to about $500 billion in 2018 compared with 2013, according to an analysis of data from Merritt Research Services. Roughly 50 million Americans live in cities that are devoting at least a fifth of annual spending to debt."
So, can Utica residents afford to help Oneida County Bond for a downtown hospital parking garage?
February 15, 2020 - Utica Urban Renewal Agency approves $561,000 budget
February 3, 2020 - Proposed Utica budget has 1.9 percent tax increase
January 15, 2020 - Utica mayor: $11.2M streetlight project to begin in March, reads: "Utica's streetlights will soon shine a bit brighter.Mayor Robert Palmieri said contractors with the New York Power..."
2019
It’s that time of year again: the City of Utica’s budget season! The finance committee meeting tonight to go over the audit from the 2018 fiscal year. We’ll have a breakdown later on Eyewitness News. pic.twitter.com/JODj0f6ijW
— Marlee Tuskes (@MarleeTuskesTV) January 28, 2019
January 15, 2019 - City budget issues via Utica Council President Mike Galime...
He's one smart cookie, just listen back to his video, "We Have A Lot To Lose."
Utica's Mayor and Comptroller Announce Budget Surplus for 2017 and 2018 - https://t.co/aULa8vKxu3 pic.twitter.com/N7nxqe6CaQ
— TALK! 100.7 FM (@_talkfm) January 11, 2019
@MayorPalmieri & Comptroller Bill Morehouse today announced that the completed financial audit of the Mayor’s sixth fiscal year in office (FY 2017-2018) showed an operating budget surplus of $531,000. #utica #uticany #herewegrowagain #bestlittlecity #progress pic.twitter.com/4Xye5CPPml
— The City of Utica, NY (@CityofUtica) January 10, 2019
2018
April 5, 2018 - Utica officials at odds over claims of ‘illegal’ money use
On April 4, 2018 we see an expense makes headlines, Extreme' winter drives Utica's road salt costs. This follows a budgeting mistake that wasn't seen and created a tax-rate increase to rise from 5.41% up to 6.78%, an additional 1.37 increase. This increase
There has been a lot of back and forth at City Hall, but Utica has the official budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Eyewitness News reporter Marlee Tuskes takes us through the process, including what caused the tax rate to change three times in two... https://t.co/hdA8wHGPJ3
— EYEWITNESS NEWS (@cnyhomepage) March 29, 2018
March 27, 2018 - Comptroller: Utica taxes going higher after error
March 26, 2018 - Utica budget finalized with 5.41 percent tax increase
March 22, 2018 - Palmieri vetoes Utica council budget amendment
March 21, 2018 - Utica council passes budget with 4.41 percent tax increase
By a vote of 7 to 2, the Utica Common Council has approved a $28 million+ budget for the 2018-19, a 4.41% tax increase
— Melissa Krull (@MKrullTV) March 21, 2018
March 19, 2018 - Monday Morning Conversation: Meet Utica's budget director
The Utica Common Council will be voting on Utica's proposed 2018-19 budget tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I'm told 52 amendments are being considered to lower the proposed 7.8% tax increase. Previous story: https://t.co/vb2lwmmRI0
— Melissa Krull (@MKrullTV) March 19, 2018
Also, Utica council reviews proposed budget changes
March 18, 2018 - Utica councilman: Did mayor craft budget with re-election in mind?
March 7, 2018 - How roadwork, raises factor into Utica's budget
March 7, 2018 - Utica public works department feels budget constraints
February 27, 2018 - Utica fire, police talk budget needs with Common Council
Feb 21, 2018 - Utica Common Council authorizes tax cap override
February 14, 2018 - Utica budget hearings schedule announced
February 12, 2018 - Palmieri to present proposed Utica budget at community meetings
February 8, 2018 - Palmieri to discuss budget at Cornhill neighborhood meeting
February 8, 2018 - OUR VIEW: E&A pass on budget irresponsible
February 5, 2018 - Palmieri outlines 7.8 percent tax increase in proposed budget
Happening now: Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri presents his 2018-19 budget proposal to the city’s Board of Estimate and Apportionment. pic.twitter.com/32kH9AKK6t
— Greg Mason (@OD_Mason) February 5, 2018
January 10, 2018 - Uticans facing probable tax increase
BUDGETS: The Federal, NYS, two hospital budgets managed by @MVHealthSystem, the Oneida County, and finally @CityofUtica budget (data shown here). The new #mvhsdowntown hospital concept, plus healthcare funding/insurance changes... we're digging further into these numbers pic.twitter.com/fRObgsewP2
— #NoHospitalDowntown (@NoHospitalDwtn) May 28, 2018
2017
August 8, 2017 - MVEDGE uses funny math to show Utica the future potential of the hospital concept...
Financing the Downtown Utica hospital concept, "NMTC" https://t.co/JqX3Oe0IMX They're not NEW jobs! #hospitalgate pic.twitter.com/r4LTiEjYRk
— #NoHospitalDowntown (@NoHospitalDwtn) August 8, 2017
Review the numbers of the Final 2016-2017 City Of Utica Budget (PDF).
March 21, 2017 - Utica council passes 2017-18 budget
March 17, 2017 - Utica's budget amounts to $1,113 per citizen, per Utica’s dilemma: Revenues vs. expenditures.
Utica Common Councilman Joe Marino - 2017-2018 Utica Budget - https://t.co/kq5o8oVBDk @joeutica4 pic.twitter.com/h7ZfqWiZak
— TALK! 100.7 FM (@_talkfm) February 17, 2017
***Zero tax increase in Utica mayor's 2017-2018 budget proposal***
— Joleen Ferris (@joleenferris) February 16, 2017
2016
October 17, 2016 - Utica sees largest increase of tax base in 10 years
May 5, 2016 - Read a bonding document, $8.5M Anticipation Notes, 2016B, by Fiscal Advisors to gain insight on Utica finances.
Do The Math, and one will see that a Downtown Utica hospital would be a financial risk, would destroy "Urban Fabric That Makes Our Downtown A City", which is ripe for redevelopment, and a hospital that would make healthcare no better - and perhaps even worse.
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