It’s official: Uticans will see a 13.95% property tax increase.

Utica Mayor Michel Galime initially proposed a budget plan with a 16.5% tax hike, but a special meeting was held Wednesday to consider amendments to that proposal.

The new budget is $86.7 million with a nearly 14% increase. An owner of property assessed at $55,000 will see a tax increase of about $207 for the year, or about $17 a month. 

Jack LoMedico, a councilman at large, said, "It can be very difficult for the people, the citizens of this city, to have to pay those taxes when...people can barely afford their groceries on a daily basis," he said. 

LoMedico said Galime stated this was supposed to be a “belt-tightening budget.”

"Well, it's anything but a belt-tightening budget. When you’re used to eating steak every once in a while, you gotta eat hamburgers. That’s what households are going to have to do from now on," LoMedico said. 

Galime called it a legislative process.

"The council did work together on certain amendments. I supported those. I signed those because they worked together on them. That’s what we need to do moving forward, we have to take the city into the future," the mayor said.

The tax hike takes effect April 1.