UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Utica Mayor David Roefaro recently released a memo addressed to department heads with regard to cutting spending, calling for budgets to be reduced by 2%. This following a hiring freeze put into effect several months ago.

City departments have sped up their budget process in some cases by as much as three weeks in order to try and meet the demands.

One of those departments is the Utica Police Department - one of the city's largest labor forces, with roughly 200 members. Deputy Chief Michael Bailey said he has been looking for creative ways to cut costs.

"Maybe sending three people away to get any particular training...maybe I send one away and have them come back and give the training to other people," Deputy Chief Bailey said when describing possible ways to cut.

Bailey is restricted by union regulations and contracts from cutting drastically from a budget that reached $16 million last year. However, he must cut about $300,000 this time around - a move comes with problems.

"When you talk about a chunk of money like that, it's not just about cutting lines," Bailey said. "The reality of it is if I don't send people away to train, then I expose the city to liability for failure to train people."

Roefaro said a property tax hike is possible, but wouldn't go into more detail, saying it would likely be less than the 55% proposal in the Town of New Hartford, but more than Oneida County's 2.5%. The actual percentage proposal won't be known until January, Roefaro said.

Utica's budget year runs March through April.