More than half of the city’s proposed $65.7 million budget for 2009-10 is directed toward police and fire expenses – a higher percentage of the total general fund budget than in Syracuse, Binghamton, Schenectady and Troy, an Observer-Dispatch analysis of the cities’ budgets shows.

But Utica compares favorably to the other cities in another area – spending a lower amount of money on the police and fire departments per resident than Syracuse, Binghamton and Troy, the analysis shows.

It’s unclear whether the difference is because Utica comparatively overspends on public safety costs or if other cities overspend on budget items other than public safety.

Utica Mayor David Roefaro acknowledged that police and fire costs make up a large amount of the city’s budget, but he said the reasons for the expenses are similar to the challenges facing other cities: union contracts that lock police officers and firefighters into certain salaries with good benefits, arbitrators who tend to rule favorably for the workers and a public demand for strong police and fire protection.

“No matter how people try to decipher it all, municipalities are just about the same,” Roefaro said. “Everybody’s got the same problems. Everybody’s got the same rules.”

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