Oswego Daily News

This budget is the third city budget I have constructed as mayor. As you know, since taking office in January of 2016, we have implemented and followed a strategic return on investment driven strategy, a complete contradiction to the strategy used by our predecessors.

At Monday night’s Common Council meeting, Mayor Billy Barlow unveiled his tentative operating budget for the coming year. It contains a 2.1% reduction in city property taxes for 2019. This is the first tax reduction for city residents in 20 years, Barlow said Monday night during his annual budget message to the council.

Fort Ontario State Historic Site on East Fourth Street in Oswego hosts a Revolutionary War encampment on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 25 and 26. The event features living history demonstrations and three battle re-enactments. Highlights include a Continental Army attack on a British outpost in Washington (East) Park on Bridge Street in Oswego at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The Oswego County Highway Department takes on a three-day paving project. Work began today (August 10) and continues through Sunday, August 12, at the parking lot next to the Oswego County Courthouse on Oneida Street in Oswego.

Mayor Billy Barlow has proposed a 2.1% reduction in city property taxes in his 2019 Operating Budget, the first tax reduction for city residents in 20 years. Mayor Barlow’s budget reduces the general tax rate from $15.67 per thousand dollars of assessed value in 2018 to $15.33 in 2019, saving approximately $26 per year on an $80,000 house.

Mayor Billy Barlow announced he will host the first “Renaissance Ball,” featuring The Billionaires as a benefit for The Oswego Renaissance Association on October 6. “The Oswego Renaissance Association was the spark that started causing Oswego to look at itself differently; building on its strengths. That change led to the renaissance our city is now experiencing,” Mayor Barlow said.

At this week’s Administrative Services Committee meeting, councilors gave a big boost to the lighthouse restoration project. Mayor Billy Barlow requested discussion and funding approval for the Oswego West Pierhead Lighthouse-Exterior Restoration and Painting Project. The committee sent the request to the full council.