City of Oneida officials opened and closed a public hearing on a proposed law to exceed the state property tax cap in the same six minutes on August 4, while a separate vote to cover the city’s fuel bill through year end failed and a $2 million FEMA grant for a new Department of Public Works building sat at roughly half of what construction now costs.
The Oneida Common Council held a regular meeting on August 4, 2026, that ran from 6:30 p.m. to 7:51 p.m. and covered four separate pieces of city finance in a single session: a public hearing on overriding the state property tax cap, a $210,156.76 warrant of city bills, a failed transfer to keep the vehicle fleet fueled through December, and an unresolved funding gap on the city’s flood-damaged Department of Public Works building. The draft minutes of that meeting, posted to the city’s website August 6, along with the meeting’s agenda and packet, are the basis for this report.
This story came from public records we pulled ourselves
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Mayor Rick Rossi presided over the meeting in Common Council Chambers at 109 North Main Street. All seven voting members, Rossi and Councilors McHugh, Cimpi, Smith, Jones, Pagano and Simchik, were present, along with City Manager Kyle Lovell, City Clerk Sandy LaPera and City Attorney Bell.
A six-minute hearing on exceeding the tax cap
The meeting’s first item of business was a public hearing on a proposed local law that would override the tax levy limit set by New York General Municipal Law section 3-C. Councilor Jones moved to open the hearing under Resolution 26-109 at 6:31 p.m.; the council voted 7-0 to open it. Two residents spoke before the council closed the hearing six minutes later at 6:37 p.m. under Resolution 26-110, also passed 7-0.
Dee Karadsleh of Cedarcrest Lane told the council that property taxes on her home have risen approximately 14 percent over the past six years. She said she does not believe annual tax increases are a sustainable long-term solution, argued the city should focus on generating additional revenue rather than raising property taxes, and said she believes the city is not business-friendly. She also raised concerns about Oneida’s declining population and asked what alternative revenue strategies the city has explored. The 14 percent figure describes Karadsleh’s own tax bill, as stated in her testimony to the council; it is not a citywide average.
Jim Coulthart of Broadway, who the minutes note previously served on the council, asked why the override law was being introduced now rather than during the annual budget process, when tax cap overrides have typically been considered in the past. He also asked whether the proposal was tied to an anticipated citywide property reassessment.
City Manager Lovell responded that New York State sets an annual property tax cap and that municipalities wishing to exceed it must first adopt a local law authorizing an override. He said the proposed law does not itself set a new tax levy; it gives the council the option to exceed the cap later, during the formal budget process, if the council decides that is necessary. Lovell said the local law requires three separate council meetings to complete, which is why it was introduced in early August, well ahead of the city’s budget season.
Councilor Cimpi told the hearing that the previous Common Council did not adopt a tax cap override law, a decision he said limited that council’s budget flexibility and contributed to roughly $1.3 million being drawn from the city’s General Fund balance to balance the prior year’s budget. Cimpi said the current council is exploring ways to raise revenue while limiting the need for new tax increases, while emphasizing the need to keep the budget balanced.
A failed vote on fuel money, and a warning about winter
Later in the meeting, the council took up Resolution 26-113, a proposed transfer of $39,400 for gasoline and $42,300 for diesel, a combined $81,700, out of the General Fund balance and into the city’s central fuel accounts to cover fuel needs through December 31, 2026. Police Chief Lowell, who fielded questions on the item, said the city buys fuel through a New York State contract and stores it in a tank owned by its fuel supplier rather than a city-owned tank, which he said avoids the cost of replacing city fuel infrastructure while still getting state contract pricing.
Councilor Jones asked for more detailed financial justification before councilors would authorize pulling more money from the General Fund. Councilor Simchik noted that market conditions and global events have pushed fuel costs up. City Manager Lovell said fuel consumption may have increased partly because of upgrades underway at the wastewater treatment plant, along with winter operations and heavier use of city equipment, though he said the city would gather more information to confirm the cause.
The transfer failed on a 4-3 vote. Councilors McHugh, Cimpi, Smith and Jones voted no; Councilor Pagano, Councilor Simchik and Mayor Rossi voted yes. Councilor Jones said that as of July 31, the city had approximately $21,000 remaining in its gasoline account and just over $6,000 in its diesel account, meaning the city would not run out of fuel immediately. Several council members raised concern that the city must maintain essential operations, and that underfunding fuel accounts during the original budget process had contributed to the current shortfall. The council discussed reviewing other departmental budget lines for possible savings rather than drawing further from the General Fund, and Mayor Rossi said the city’s full budget season would allow for a broader review of departmental funding needs.
A $2 million grant, a $4 to $6 million building
Councilor Cimpi asked for a status update on bonding for the Madison Street demolition project and on the purchase of a new plow truck; City Manager Lovell said a final update on the demolition bonding for three properties would come later in the meeting and that there was not yet a definitive update on the plow truck.
Discussion then turned to the condition of the city’s Department of Public Works building. Councilor McHugh said the facility is in poor condition and suggested that relatively small improvements, such as painting or fixing long-standing lighting and maintenance problems, could help worker morale while the city works toward a longer-term fix.
City Manager Lovell told the council the city has approximately $2 million in FEMA funding designated for replacing the DPW facility, which sustained flood damage. He said preliminary design estimates for a new building ranged from $4 million to $6 million, and that construction costs have likely increased further since those estimates were prepared. Because the FEMA award is specifically designated for replacing the building rather than repairing it, Lovell said it cannot legally be redirected to fund repairs or improvements to the existing structure. When asked whether money could be found elsewhere in the budget for modest repairs to the current building, Lovell said no funding is currently budgeted for that purpose, though it could be considered in future budget discussions. Lovell added that the council’s failure to approve the fuel transfer earlier in the meeting was, in his view, a more immediate threat to employee morale than the condition of the DPW building, since it affects employees’ ability to do their work.
McHugh separately raised concerns about overgrown vegetation at the city entrance near the Five Corners and Walmart area, saying it creates a poor first impression for visitors. Because that stretch is a state roadway, she suggested the city could coordinate with the appropriate state agency or ask the Department of Public Works to address it as a way of improving the area’s appearance.
New council committees, and a look ahead to downtown revitalization
Following the budget discussions, the council voted to establish two new special committees. A committee to review whether the city should regulate short-term rentals, such as Airbnb and Vrbo listings, passed 6-1, with Councilor Pagano opposed; its members are Councilors McHugh, Cimpi and Pagano. City Attorney Bell told the council that regulating short-term rentals would require a new local law addressing definitions, permitting, inspection standards, operating rules, enforcement and fees, and that other municipalities have used approaches including annual permit fees and conditional use permits. The discussion referenced short-term rental regulations Madison County has already adopted, with council members weighing whether a city law should supplement rather than duplicate the county’s rules. Councilor Smith, who requested the update, said she was interested in a framework that could also generate additional revenue for the city.
A separate committee to review the city’s inside/outside water and sewer district boundaries passed 4-3, with Councilors Smith, Jones and Simchik named to it. City Attorney Bell told the council the district review is complicated by the structure of the city’s existing service districts and that more research is needed before an update can be provided.
The council also approved Resolution 26-111, designating the Common Council as the hearing body for any due process hearings on termination of water service under the city’s Water Department rules, and approved Warrant No. 15, covering checks and ACH payments totaling $210,156.76, as audited by the city’s Voucher Committee.
Mayor Rossi closed the meeting by reminding residents that green waste collection may be delayed during the city’s paving season and by announcing that the final Park Passport event of the season would take place Thursday, featuring a 96-foot inflatable obstacle course; he directed residents to the Parks and Recreation Department’s Facebook page for the location.
The city has also posted a notice for a special Common Council meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, for the stated purpose of providing updates on the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, the state economic development program that channels state funding into downtown building and streetscape projects. The notice does not list specific projects or dollar figures. The meeting is open to the public.
The council adjourned the August 4 meeting at 7:51 p.m. after approving the minutes of its July 21, 2026 meeting on a 6-0 vote with Councilor Smith abstaining. The tax cap override local law now needs two additional council meetings before it can take effect, under the three-meeting process City Manager Lovell described, and city officials say those meetings are expected to fall before the city’s fall budget season begins in earnest.
Sources and verification
This story is built from the City of Oneida’s own draft minutes of the August 4, 2026 Common Council meeting, posted to oneidacityny.gov on August 6, 2026, and the city’s public notice of the August 11, 2026 special Common Council meeting on Downtown Revitalization Initiative updates, posted to the same site. Dollar figures, vote tallies and quoted positions are drawn directly from those documents. Where a figure describes one resident’s personal experience, such as Dee Karadsleh’s reported 14 percent tax increase, that attribution is preserved rather than generalized to all city taxpayers.
