ONEIDA -- Oneida Common Council is proposing a 6% property tax increase.
Oneida Common Councilor Brahim Zogby says a 1% tax increase only brings about $30,000 into the city of Oneida.
The city is facing a $700,000 budget deficit. It would take a 22% tax increase to fill that. Instead, the councilors are proposing a 6% tax increase and using money from Oneida's reserve fund.When Gail Diamond saw that Oneida City Common Councilors proposed raising her property taxes by 6% - she read it twice to make sure it wasn't a misprint.
"I've lived here 34 years and the number of homes I have seen go up for sale in the last couple years is unbelievable. People can't afford to live here," said Diamond.
Diamond said she thought Oneida could raise money by ticketing speeders in school zones and drivers using cell phones.
Common Councilor Brahim Zogby likes the idea of New York State's 2% property tax cap but Zogby says two percent isn't enough to pay the city's bills. In a wealthy community, any increase in property taxes could bring in a lot of money - not here in Oneida.
A 6% increase would add about $49 to the tax bill of a $100,000 Oneida home.
"2 percent will generate approximately $60,000 to $68,000 in revenue. So it really doesn't help us meet a $700,000 budget gap," said Zogby.
If the 6% tax increase goes through, Oneida would still need to take more than $500,000 from the city's reserve fund.
Oneida joins several other Central New York cities struggling with the property tax cap. In some cases, increases in state mandated costs are more than the revenue that would come in from a 2% increase. The City of Oswego passed a vote to raise property taxes over the cap earlier this week.
Irene Boarsky knows the City of Oneida is trying to stretch their budget - but money is tight for her too. Boarksy says many of her Oneida neighbors are on fixed incomes and any increase would be unreasonable right now.
"They raise your taxes, they raise your sewer taxes - how are people going to live if they keep raising the prices?" asked Boarsky.
Oneida neighbors will have a chance to give their thoughts on the budget and any possible tax increase at an upcoming public hearing.
