Following more than an hour of public outcry — and at times outrage — over a proposed 3.8% tax increase, the Common Council approved the city’s 2026 budget Wednesday with Aldermen Kathryn Fogle and Anita Mullane voting against the plan.
More than 50 residents attended the council meeting, with many telling the council that the tax increase demonstrated poor city management and a lack of respect for residents who can ill afford the added cost.
Fogle, the 4th Ward alderman and council president, said she did not approve the budget because Mayor John Lombardi III put no effort into containing costs, and the council did not persevere with cost-cutting after reaching the state’s tax limit of 3.5%.
“You’re not getting anything,” Fogle said of improved or increased services. “It’s the same old, same old. Now the real work happens. We’ve got to fix this.”
Clinton Street resident Cindy Bucculo was the first to take the microphone, targeting Lombardi’s original 8% proposed tax increase.
“I think the mayor should pay for his car and his gas,” Buccolo said, referring to Lombardi’s city vehicle and gas card. “We all have to pay our own expenses. Do we need an 8% increase where the land is contaminated? Where my husband lost his life, and where I have to fend for myself?”
Lombardi responded that the council did its “due diligence” and that the 8% tax increase he proposed “was nothing that I wanted to see put out there. It was the department heads’ wish list.”
Buccolo replied, “Because we have incompetent people who don’t know what they’re doing!”
Lombardi encouraged Buccolo to come see him in his office.
Addressing Lombardi, business owner Kathy O’Keefe of the 3rd Ward later said, “If that’s your wish list, you need to find another neighborhood.”
Mullane and Margaret Lupo, 5th Ward alderman, said they did not receive copies of the updated budget that showed the new financial results. They said the council received a one-page table of listed cost increases and decreases requested, without them being placed in budget form.
The budget included nearly $2.7 million from the city’s reserve funds, which Mullane opposed.
“A million of it is the police contract,” she said. “But what about the other $1.7 million?”
Lupo said she decided to vote in favor of the budget because she had supported this year’s new contract with the police union.
“The reserve spending was the police contract,” Lupo said. “We knew there was going to be a cost for this contract. So how do I vote for the police contract and not the budget to pay for it? I’m so displeased with the whole process, but my no vote would punish the people who go to work every day. I said we should go to the departments and ask them to cut more, and I was met with silence. No one thought it was a good idea. Nobody jumped on board with it.”
Police Chief Steven Abbott said earlier this week that the police union contract was being reviewed by attorneys and was not yet publicly available.
During its public work session, the council discussed Fogle’s suggestion of cutting two fire department positions. Tuesday, Fogle had said that 48 positions were the minimum to staff the department. Dan Cavallari, city finance director, said the 2025 budget included 54 1/2 positions for the fire department, with the half position representing an administrative assistant.
Fire Chief Luca Quagliano said after a 2014 city lawsuit, the fire department’s minimum staffing was set at 50 positions. Quagliano said four positions serve as a buffer against overtime if anyone calls in sick.