Oneida County approves 2025 budget and capital plan

The Oneida County Board of Legislators approved Oneida County’s 2025 budget and capital plan at Wednesday’s meeting.

The $547,067,624 balanced budget does not increase the property tax levy for the twelfth year in a row.

The 2025 budget appropriates $151,073,777 in sales tax revenue, $23 million in Oneida Indian Nation revenue and retires $19 million in debt. The capital budget will bond for $21.6 million.

“I thank the Board of Legislators for adopting my budget proposal with minimal adjustments and for keeping the people of Oneida County on a path of continued success,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said in a statment.

“I’m proud of this budget, and of the hard work we put in together to get it done. We faced many challenges this past year — including an unprecedented tornado— and we had to make some hard choices in order to keep our county on solid financial ground. This budget is a testament to those efforts and puts us in prime position for our future.”

Presenting the budget initially, Picente said departmental requests came in at $471 million and then were reduced down to $457 million. Another $9 million in cuts to discretionary spending across all departments was made, further reducing the need to raise taxes.

The budget had a lot of unexpected costs, such as the tornado that struck Rome and parts of Oneida County. Oneida County is currently looking at $23 million in costs due to the tornado, with another $10 million in damage to its buildings alone.

A study commissioned with Camoin Associates found that there will be a $13 million reduction to the taxable property value to Oneida County, the City of Rome and the Rome City School District. On top of this, there was a loss of $1.4 million in County property tax revenue, $1.8 million for the City of Rome and $3 million for the Rome City School District.

And while Picente is optimistic for the future, he’s calling for big changes.

“I want everyone to understand a hard reality. Our revenue streams fluctuate. Sales tax will not go up forever. Nation revenue won’t always increase at the same pace,” Picente said at his budget presentation. “We have to be cognizant of those potential outcomes. This government cannot continue to be everything to everyone with the financial structure the way it is. In 2025, we have hard choices to consider. Questions that will need to be answered.”