FULTON – During last night’s Common Council meeting, December 7, residents spoke during three public hearings regarding the city’s proposed budget for 2022, granting a special use permit for OH Properties, and proposed changes to be made to the city code regarding “Signs, Billboards and Banners.”
Public Hearing for the 2022 Budget:
“On behalf of the Common Council, Department Heads and all the city employees, I am pleased to announce that we have completed the 2022 proposed budget and the City of Fulton will see a 0% tax increase,” Mayor Deana Michaels announced on her Facebook page on December 3. “We are able to do this without compromising services, in fact instead investing in each department to support its goals.”
A large part of the discussion during this public hearing regarded the city-wide reassessment and how it could impact taxes.
“All I want to know is are the people going to get a higher tax bill because their house is now being assessed higher?” Castiglia asked.
Ron Patrick, city resident and head of the City Planning Commission, explained the assessments.
“Assessed value has nothing to do with your property taxes,” Patrick said. “All it does is tell you what your property is worth… It depends on the whole assessed value. As assessed value of the city goes up, tax rates go down, not up. It’s important that we are [assessed] at 100%. Last year we were at 91% so we paid 109% of the school taxes that Granby or Volney or anyone else at 100% would pay.”
He said if your assessment goes up, it does not mean your tax bill would automatically go up, and that it instead depends on the whole city’s assessed value.
“The city’s only going to collect whatever they’re going to collect,” Patrick said.
Mayor Deana Michaels said the city-wide reevaluation is complete, and does not take effect until 2023 – 2022-2023 school taxes and 2023 property taxes.
“If anyone’s affected by that, that’s when it’ll be affected,” she said.
She said more information on this can be found on the city website and that the city is planning on holding a town hall regarding this in February, COVID-19 depending.
Michaels then discussed the budget process this year in which department heads were involved and asked to give their most “robust wish list,” and then worked through the logistics, bringing it down from a 16% increase. She commended the department heads for their work and their involvement in the budget process.
“We were able to keep wish list items in the budget,” Michaels said. “There’s no increases to our water or sewer budget or garbage. None of that is being increased.”
She listed different ways that the city has saved money and is looking to save money, including using ARPA funding to pay for cleaning out the air ducts, exploring county-wide shared services, and money found during an audit.
“We thought for sure we were coming in at a 1-1.5% [tax] increase,” Michaels said. “But the department heads stepped up and said ‘Hey, I have another strategy for this. I think I have another plan for this. I think we can do something here.’ And they didn’t do it by over compromising their department.”
In response to a question Castiglia posed about an anticipated increase in revenue for North Bay Campgrounds, she said they believe the campgrounds will generate more revenue because they will be putting in better equipment to charge more for some of the campgrounds and to have more campgrounds available. Parks and Rec Director Chris Waldron said they also plan to work with Fulton Speedway for better advertising to a targeted audience.
The last person to speak during this public hearing was resident David Phares said he thinks the budget looks excellent.
The public hearing was left open until December 14 for any additional comments to be dropped off at the city clerk’s office.
Public hearing: Oswego Health Properties, Inc. special use permit
A few months ago OH Properties, Inc. submitted an application to obtain a special use permit to move an existing sign that did not meet the Code Department’s requirements of being 8 feet above the crest of the road.
Previous coverage:
September 21: The Fulton Common Council held a public hearing on OH Properties, Inc.’s request for a special use permit.
October 5: The Fulton Common Council voted down OH Properties, Inc.’s request for a special use permit.
October 19: The Fulton Common Council discussed votes to deny two special use permits for proposed signage – Oswego Health Properties and the Polish Home.
November 16: The Fulton Common Council rescinded the resolution in which they denied OH Properties, Inc.’s request for a special permit.
Michaels said the council wanted to revisit this now that they have more information on it.
Castiglia said while he has no problem with the sign and is in favor of it, he sees “good ol’ boy politics.” He said he has no love for Oswego Health but he does have love for businesses coming into the city.
“It should not have gotten to this point,” Castiglia said. “We can’t keep treating businesses this way. We have to be fair with them all the time.”
The council then voted on the special use permit. With the exception of the first ward councilor (absent for several months), all councilors voted in favor and the resolution passed.
Public hearing: Amend city code 640-25 “Signs, Billboards and Banners.”
Castiglia asked which changes are included in the proposed amendments.
As chair of the Fulton Planning Commission, Patrick explained that the planning commission has been concentrating on signs in the city. With the goal to make signs uniform and to make sure they do not interfere with traffic or public safety, the changes made would include making all pedestal signs legal and to grandfather them in.
Existing signs will be grandfathered in until any changes are made to them, then they would need to adhere to the code. All new or changed signs would need to go through the Planning Commission before obtaining a permit. Those who do not get the permit will face a fine of 10x the cost of the permit.
“To get the permit is next to nothing, but to not get the permit is a big penalty,” Patrick said.
He further discussed more examples.
Castiglia asked why it was necessary to grant OH Properties a special use permit if the city code is going to change. Michaels explained that they are treating that application based on law at the time of the application.
The public hearing was left open for the purpose of aging with the councilors for five days. It will be voted on during the next meeting – Tuesday, December 14.
The council then approved all items on the agenda:
- Approve the clerk’s November report in the amount of $4,199.25
- Approve the minutes for the November 3, 6 and 16 meetings.
- Authorize the mayor to sign a three year agreement with Oswego County for weights and measures services.
- Appoint Steve Sunday to the Ethics Board for a three year term
- Appoint Ralph Stacy to the Planning Commission for a three year term.
- Appoint Eryl Christianson to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a three year term.
- Appoint Alan France to the Ethics Board for a three year term.
- Appoint Rick Kersey to the Electrical Board for a three year term.
- Authorize city clerk/chamberlain to advertise for a public hearing to amend Chapter 435 of the city code, “Nuisances.”
- Public hearing to be held Tuesday, December 14 following the public comment period at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Municipal Building.
Councilor Comments:
All councilors thanked DPW Commissioner CJ Smith and his team for their work throughout the city.
Second Ward Councilor Doug Chapman said he thinks it is a good idea to have all the signs be more uniform.
Third Ward Councilor Don Patrick Jr. thanked Parks and Rec Director Chris Waldron and volunteers for their work during the city’s Christmas Tree Lighting.
Fourth Ward Councilor John Kenyon expressed his frustration with residents criticizing the DPW via social media. He said the taxpayers are fortunate to have the DPW.
Fifth Ward Councilor/President Audrey Avery expressed her respect for the DPW and Parks and Rec.
Sixth Ward Councilor Larry Macner thanked the department heads for their work in the budget and also gave a reminder of the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
Mayor Deana Michaels closed the meeting by giving some updates – Dasher Dollars go on sale this week. More information on this program is available here. She also said Byrne Dairy is moving forward in coming to Fulton and Walgreens is moving forward in its change in location. She said she along with Oswego Health and the city of Oswego will soon be giving a COVID-19 update. She also reminded residents of the Fulton Wrestling team’s match that night (they did achieve their 1000th win), and December 18 there will be a Christmas Cruise with Santa.
A separate article on the public comment period of the December 7 meeting can be found here.
The next Common Council meeting will be Tuesday, December 14 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Municipal Building.
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What they chose to leave out is the whole statement about “Good Ol boy Politics” This was the third time for this issue with the sign for OH. The second time when I spoke and said there should be no problem with the sign if it was good before it should be ok now. Well the whole east side cc voted NO. then Mr. Patrick spoke at the next meeting and said the same thing and before that meeting the Mayor got a call from Oswego and all of a sudden CC president Avery “Said if I had know that I would have changed my vote” well if she had heard what I said she should have changed it the first time she voted on it. Well after the call she and the whole east side changed their votes. We are now being run by Oswego political leaders and OH. Sad, never would have happened under any other Mayor or CC. Also when they voted on it before the head of Codes said he had no problem with the sign. So if the head of your Codes is ok with it, why vote NO, then change you mind later. The call from Boss Hog, that is what changed.