This year’s budget is definitely a tough one for everyone involved.  Mayor Roefaro has taken a lot of criticism of his proposed 11% property tax increase and .5% sales tax hike.  But the onus shouldn’t be on Roefaro alone. 

A couple years ago the council asked for more budgetary powers.  Well, they got it.  Now Roefaro has submitted his “proposed” budget to the council and it’s now their turn to do their jobs.  After the final proposed budget is passed on to the council on Monday, it’s no longer Roefaro’s budget – it’s the city council’s.  That means any cuts, hikes, tax increases, etc., are the council’s – not the mayor’s.

After watching the back and forth on this budget, it seems some council-members – if not all – have no idea of what their roles are.  You want less police or fire?  Propose the amendment to the budget!  You want less services?  Propose the amendment!  You want to hike taxes and make Utica the highest taxed city in the highest taxed state?  Then rubber stamp the budget and keep crying that it wasn’t your fault. 

The fact is, we actually felt sorry for Roefaro at yesterday’s budget meeting.  Sure, we disagree totally with his proposed budget, but he made some valid points.  The council has the power, and if they don’t like the budget, stop pointing fingers and cut it.  People are paying a lot more attention to public affairs lately – one positive of a financial crisis is that people become a lot more attuned to what politicians are doing – and that means the usual bury your head in the sand and rubber stamping budgets isn’t going to fly anymore.