Public Question, Answer Session Held by Mayor

By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA

More than 30 residents attended the first question and answer session organized by City of Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek on November 29. NAGS Bar & Kitchen at 221 Main Street hosted the gathering, which began at 6 p.m.

Mayor Drnek and City Administrator Greg Mattice, PE, answered questions for more than two hours. Executive Director of the Greater Oneonta Historical Society and Vice Chair of the Planning Commission Marcela Micucci fielded questions from the audience.

The questions centered on the following topics:

• salary increases
• the budget deficit
• tax increases
• the need for new revenue sources
• a parking management system
• Main Street Renaissance Program
• Stagecoach Coffee
• vacant homes

Wendy Hunt, a resident of Franklin who lived on Center Street in Oneonta for 30 years, kicked off the meeting with the first question. She asked, “Is it true there will be a 30 percent increase in salaries for city employees and how will it be funded?”

Mattice confirmed, “We have proposed a $1,085,000.00 increase in total salaries plus the corresponding FICA costs and retirement plan benefits. An appropriation of $1,834,000.00 from the General Fund balance will cover the deficit and balances the budget.”

Mayor Drnek explained, “We are short-handed by 15-20 positions. We are asking people to do a lot more for the same amount of pay. We have found there is a lot of institutional memory in our employees and when a person leaves, they are hard to replace.”

For example, Mattice pointed out that the deputy finance director position has been open for a year.

The mayor explained, “There is a high cost associated with losing staff. We need to advertise the job, find candidates willing to work for the salary we can offer, interview and train the new person. Our goal is to retain the excellent staff we have, fill vacant positions and not have to cut services.”

Mattice is one of the long-term employees who has worked for the City of Oneonta for 13 years.
He said, “We hired a third party, the Burke Group, to come up with benchmarks of market median salaries for comparable positions in other upstate New York municipalities.”

The proposed salary increases are to bring salaries within 90 percent of the median salaries paid elsewhere to be competitive.

Michael Stolzer, owner of OneontaStudents.com, asked if benefits were included in the salary study done by the Burke Group. Mattice replied, “No, benefits weren’t part of the Burke study, but we did a separate comparison of our benefits with other municipalities and found that Oneonta’s benefits are very similar.”

Jim Tomaino asked, “How are we going to pay for these salary increases?”

One of the ways the city is funding increases to salaries is from a $400,000.00 savings in healthcare costs.

Mattice said, “By joining Cayuga County Health Insurance Consortium, we avoided another 20 percent increase in healthcare costs like we incurred in 2023. We found the same amount of coverage at a much lower cost.”

Stolzer also asked about the proposed 10 percent property tax increase.

Mayor Drnek said, “Although a tax increase was proposed to cover the deficit, the Common Council decided to adhere to the tax cap and not raise taxes by 10.3 percent.”

Drnek added, “We do not want to cause any more agitation to our taxpayers. We must increase funding coming into the city. Let’s think outside the box. We need to turn Oneonta back into what Oneonta was. We need to maximize our arts community, and we’d like to bring the farmer’s market back to Main Street.”

The mayor asked the audience to become ambassadors for the city and to volunteer to be part of the Main Street Renaissance Program.

A concern about implementing paid parking was raised by several members of the audience. Someone asked about the cost of the program and what the projected revenue may be from paid parking.

Mattice outlined the goal of parking management and some of the possibilities. A specific proposal is still being developed and will be discussed with the Parking Strategies Taskforce before it is presented to the Common Council for consideration and action.

Mattice said, “The goal of managing our parking is to try to encourage turnover of premium parking spots on Main Street.”

One problem cited is that some people take advantage of the free parking and leave their cars on Main Street for eight hours. The hope is that a paid system that would allow visitors the choice to park for one to two hours would allow more people to access the most convenient parking available when shopping on Main Street.

Hunt said, “We tried paid parking several times in the past and it did not work. I predict it will drive traffic away from Main Street.”

George Wells, a 50-year resident of 12 Walnut Street, expressed concern over a proposal for the owners of Stagecoach Coffee to convert their garage at 31 Walnut Street into a neighborhood coffee shop.

Wells is opposed to commercializing an historic residential neighborhood and complained that there is a lack of transparency and communication about when the Planning Commission is meeting to hear the proposal from the owners of Stagecoach Coffee.

Danny Lapin said, “The next meeting of the Planning Commission is December 20. Although there was a preliminary meeting, the application is not complete and the official review process has not begun.”

Walnut Street is a mixed-use, R2 neighborhood that has zoning language allowing a “neighborhood market.” Residents worry about the unintended consequences this “neighborhood market” wording might create.

Residents welcomed the idea of this popular Cooperstown coffee shop opening a business in Oneonta, but questioned whether converting the garage of a five-bedroom residential home is the best option for a business that proposes to have 19 seats inside and 20 seats outside.

They expressed concerns about traffic, parking problems and having a coffee shop in the back yard of a single-family residence close to their own back yards.

A recent editorial in the local daily newspaper stated, “…the building at 82 Center Street, which housed the now-closed Center Street Deli in Oneonta, has been vacant for some time. Many have been suggesting that the Stagecoach owners look into taking over that location.”

Before Stagecoach Coffee can proceed with modifications, they will need a use variance approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Vacant, dilapidated homes known as zombie homes was a concern raised by Van Jaffie. He said, “The zombie house next door is depreciating the value of our home. Recently the police found two to three homeless people living in this zombie house.”

Stolzer estimated there were 84 zombie homes around the city 10 years ago. The mayor confirmed the city’s commitment to addressing the concern, and to enhancing the quality of housing in the neighborhoods, but said, “We have a population of 13,000+ in Oneonta and only two code enforcement officers.”

Drnek added, “I am enlisting the community to exercise situational awareness and report concerns to the city.”

Stolzer ended the meeting on a positive note saying, “Thank you for doing this Q&A. We need this kind of dialogue. We should do this more often.”