As it commences the work of addressing a $1.68 million deficit in the city budget, the Oneonta Common Council’s Budget Review Committee heard from two department heads Tuesday, March 26 about their services, staffing levels, costs and room for improvement.
The city’s annual operating expenses currently exceed its revenues. The committee intends to identify potential areas for cost savings and revenue generation. The council subcommittee began meeting monthly in January, after a contentious 2025 budget vote.
The council meeting covered several key aspects of the city HR and finance departments with City Human Resource Specialist David Coury and Finance Director Virginia Lee.
Coury reviewed various HR services, changes made in the last seven months and areas of potential cost savings. He said that Michelle Howard, an HR specialist hired in September, has made significant contributions to improving response times for employee and retiree complaints.
Coury said that if the city were to implement Tyler Technologies, a software system for managing city operations that has been adopted at the county level, it would streamline the insurance enrollment process and improve efficiency.
The employee flex spending account program is underutilized due to changes in the insurance program reducing the need for co-pays, he said. Wellness initiatives and better education on telemedicine and mail-order prescriptions could lower health insurance costs and premiums.
Potential changes in civil service administration due to state-level reforms would impact test administration and position classification.
Coury also spoke about the importance of maintaining up-to-date records.
He said that a backlog of HR-related documents going back several decades contained in boxes stored in the basement of City Hall is a “massive liability” for the city.
“We don’t know that’s in them,” he said. “There are hundreds of them.”
Recruitment and retention of city employees is another aspect of the HR department.
“The city’s commitment to addressing salaries has been a major factor in retaining employees over the last couple years,” he said. “We are not facing the vacancies in most departments that we were, especially the CSEA units … (but) we can’t keep doing that. It’s not all about the salary. So how do we keep people here? We keep people here by making this a good place to work.”
He also highlighted a memorandum of agreement with the CSEA for shared responsibility in training and regulatory compliance as a significant achievement.
Finance department review
Lee reviewed several aspects of the city’s finance department, which handles various tasks including payroll, union contract negotiations, processing requisitions and purchase orders.
The department also handles tax collection, probated taxes, water and sewer collections and various billing systems. The team consists of six staff members with one position among the six currently vacant.
Lee said challenges include the manual processing of payroll and the inefficiencies of the current UKG system. She also said that transitioning to Tyler Technologies would streamline processes and reduce manual work.
The 2026 budget should include funding for current staffing levels and potential additional staff to handle increased workloads. The department is exploring the possibility of hiring an accounting firm if the staffing shortage persists. Succession planning in the finance department also is a concern for when Lee fully retires.
Lee spoke about increased collection efforts for unpaid parking tickets.
“We have got a large volume of unpaid parking tickets right now, she said. “I’ve got to work with the city attorney to find out what legal limits we are allowed as far as pursuing unpaid parking tickets.”
She also talked about the potential impact of losing federal funding.
“To date, I have not been informed on losing any federal aid,” she said. “If any federal aid for the various community development programs, such as HUD, were lost … this would also have adverse effects on the homeowners and business owners within the city. The USDA … loan for the fire truck may be a risk because that department is getting cut. Also, they’re talking about cuts in FEMA, which may affect future funding for disaster relief.”
The Budget Review Committee is scheduled to hear from the police department at its April meeting, the fire department in May, the Department of Public Works in June and Oneonta Public Transit in July.