SCHENECTADY -- Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford is looking forward to starting a new chapter in his life when he retires early next year, but for now, his top priority is ensuring that city leaders dedicate enough money to keep the department moving forward amid a looming financial crisis in the Electric City.

"My focus right now, up until Thanksgiving, and it could be beyond that, is to get a budget for the department that's realistic, so that we can continue to do the work that we're doing," he said. "I'm actually working the hardest I've ever worked because there are a lot of loose ends that I need to tighten up. I got my checklist of things to do."

That's in part, Clifford said, because he is down a police commander. Assistant Chief Adam Nowicki is off at the FBI National Academy in Virginia until early December.

When asked about his impending departure, the 55-year-old Clifford reflected Friday on the fact that his only grandson, who lives in Florida, will turn 1 in six days. The child is the son of Clifford's oldest son, Andrew, who is in his first year of residency in internal medicine.

"We want to be down there to support him and my daughter-in-law while he's going through this residency process," said Clifford, adding he also has other close relatives in the Sunshine State that he wants to hang out with. "Both from my wife's perspective and my perspective, we just want to be able to spend more time down there. That's really what it came down to."

Though Clifford said the couple plans to eventually buy a place in Florida, the veteran lawman said they are not leaving their Schenectady home right away.

"My son works with this department, my nephew works here, I'll still have a connection to this department and the city as well, so I'm not going anywhere. It's just a matter of evaluating where I'm at in my life and prioritizing things," he said. "I have the luxury and privilege of being able to retire with a nice pension... it was just the right time."

He told the Times Union that though his retirement takes effect at the end of January, he has unused vacation time to burn in the run-up to his departure.

Clifford, a graduate of Schenectady County Community and Union colleges, joined the Schenectady Police Department in 2002.

He rose through the ranks before being named police chief in September 2016. A year earlier, Clifford led the department's joint efforts with federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the probe into a deadly fire at a high-rise apartment building on Jay Street adjacent to City Hall that resulted in the deaths of four people and displaced dozens of tenants.

Earlier this month, Mayor Gary McCarthy proposed a whopping 17% property tax hike coupled with an increase in the residential trash collection fee in his 2026 budget. City Council members must still review the plan. Under his spending plan, homes assessed at $100,000 would see property taxes for next year increase by $240 a year, while the garbage fee would increase by $104 a year.

Clifford, who appeared before the council earlier this week to make his case and answer questions, said he's hopeful the panel will restore some funding to the department, especially in the area of patrol and investigations, which is critical to the work of the 165-member police force.

McCarthy has said that money earmarked for police overtime hours in 2026 is down by more than $1 million.

"I think that the budget that was presented to them is a stark reality of what the financial condition of the city is," Clifford said. "But as I expressed to them, it's not stable and it will have an effect on our operations, which will result in a major impact on crime. If we don't have the funding here in the overtime lines that we feel we need, then the residents are going to get less of a service."

He said that may mean the department does fewer proactive patrols and less community outreach and policing, and reverts back to the department's "core mission of answering calls for service and protecting life and property, and that's it."

Schenectady police chief set to retire at the end of January