In 2026 the City of Rome, NY raised property taxes for the second year in a row. Even after the increase, the adopted 2026 budget plans to use more than $3.8 million from savings. In February 2026 I spent a month in the city's audits, ten years of state comptroller filings, and every budget I could get. In March I presented a report on a structural deficit and a declining cash reserve, thinking I'd found something new. I hadn't. Mayor Jeff Lanigan had laid out the problem in his September 2025 budget message, and he called this increase "not a trend, but a bridge."