Fulton City Council Faces Tough Budget Decisions Amid Revenue Shortfalls and Public Concerns Over Rate Increases and Service Cuts

FULTON – Last Tuesday, November 18th, The Fulton City Council met to vote on budgets and rates for Water, Sanitation, Refuse, and Garbage, as well as the Base Water Rate. A total of 11 public hearings were scheduled for that evening. Councilor Avery stated that the council and the mayor have been working with Commissioner Smith, and that the council is working to change the proposed rates, so they will not be passing the rate resolutions for Water Rate, Base Water Rate, Sanitation Rate, and Garbage Rate. Several of the hearings went without anyone in the public speaking.

Mayor Rice stated, “Right now, our estimated revenues, including the fee increases, which the first one ended in a three-to-three tie. Total $11,250,982.

That is equal to $280,534 and seven cents less than 2025.

So if the council moves ahead and if they decide not to enact these fee increases, we are going to have to take them out of the 2026 proposed budget.

That amount appears to be $50,000, which will raise the tax rate by 1% of $50,000.”

Councilors Campolieta and Patrick concurred with the Mayor. Mr. Patrick, with decades of experience in the department, stated that lost revenue for the Sanitation department, aging lines and pumps, and ongoing maintenance are contributing to a persistent budget deficit.

Frank Castiglia commented on the Garbage and refuse budget, “We should get out of the garbage business.” Saying the city should sell the garbage trucks the city bonded for and use the staff in other departments, so they don’t lose their jobs. Oswego County Today reached out to Councilor Avery for a response. There are 6 to 8 employees in the Refuse and Garbage Department. If the city doesn’t generate revenue from this department and the employees remain on payroll, the funding for their salaries would have to come from other departments, increasing those costs. Selling the trucks will never recover the expenses of the vehicles, so the debt on them would still need to be paid from elsewhere. She further added that a private company would charge the public and most likely not offer the same service. Mrs. Avery told us she had a long conversation with the state comptroller about several ideas to help with the budget issues, ranging from merging departments to furloughing employees. She strongly suggested that employees who have reached retirement age consider retiring.

Several people spoke about the budget proposals and the fear that rates will still go up. One suggested changing the city to a town or village to save money. One argued that if you are increasing rates, the city should increase public services. A large tax increase is unsustainable and will disproportionately affect seniors and those on fixed incomes. City hall is overstaffed, with many unnecessary positions and perks that should be eliminated. The city should be run like a business, listening to constituents and finding ways to increase revenue without burdening taxpayers.

Councilor Cobb made a statement, “We have a lot of our city employees here today. We do have the best city employees, with a lot of experience, and they show that experience every day.

The problem is we don’t have the money to support a lot of these employees any longer. We’ve lost six major factories in this city.

Guess what, when those factories were here, they were spending money here.

We had stores here.

Everything has gone. And every day, every day, it seems like we’re losing another business in this city. I think AT&T was announced the other day.

So anyway, the bottom line is, thank you for your services, you guys, but we’re going to have to make some bad cuts. And a lot of people aren’t going to like it.

Whether it’s the West Side or East Side or whatever, there’s going to have to be cuts.

We can’t cut DPW employees any longer. We’re down to 24 employees. I think we are at 40 at one time when Buck was in there.

But anyway, you don’t get anywhere in a budget this bad, cutting somebody that’s on the back of a garbage truck.

You got to go after the ones that need to retire.

So that’s my spiel tonight, because we have a lot of people in here that work for the city, and we thank you for working as hard as you do and for the experience that you have.

But cuts are gonna happen.”

Mr. Sherman said, “Obviously, I’m standing on the outside looking in like everybody else, and I’m definitely concerned about what’s going on in the city.

I kind of liking it to say myself hiring full-time electrician, full-time farmer, full-time carpenter, and giving them raises every year. And then when something actually breaks , being able to afford to make that repair.

I’ve got the labor to do it, but I don’t have the money to actually take care of the rest of it.

I think the city’s got some very difficult decisions to make in the future. The cities in big trouble.

We can see the numbers, we know that it’s there, and unfortunately, it’s not on this council; it’s been going on for probably 30 or 40 years.

Unfortunately, the turnover happens at this table, and it’s not happening, well, what happens is your employees are all blasting the leadership in that has to make these decisions. So they’re actually a driver’s seat.

And once you get the turnover at this council table, they’re just going to outwait that counselor until the next person comes in.

There are some definite decisions that are going to have to be made for the future of the city And they’re not going to be easy, and there’s going to be people involved. It’s not going to be just cutting a dump truck for a garbage packer or something like that.

There’s going to be livelihoods that are going to lose. There’s people that are going to potentially lose their property.

I’ll tell you right now my mortgage payment has the taxes in escrow, and I’m paying an additional $200 a year because of that. The tax increases that we’ve already had.

And now I’m looking at probably another tax on another $40 a month.

Things happen in the way it’s being talked about.

And now with the water, sewer, and sanitation issue that likely will end up in the general fund as well as far as the tax increased to pay for it.

And where’s the shortage coming from in that department? How come there’s a shortage of money? And why is that? Why is it declining?

So what’s going to happen is going to make it less attractive for the business to come into town.

I myself, you know, I’ve got, the motel down there, I’ve got a buyer on it, you all know that. . And once I sell that, I need to find a new space. I don’t know if it’s going to be Fulton.

Because the taxes here would make me very uncompetitive to my competition.

They’re paying way less taxes.

They are in a better commercial area, they’re in Onondaga County and paying less taxes, and have a much higher client base than there is in Oswego County.

And I’m just getting killed here with property taxes.

So it’s really concerning, obviously, these are not going to be easy decisions by whoever is going to make them. And unfortunately, I think the taxpayers here have been hurt substantially, and it’s going to get worse.”

The Fulton City Council will be holding another meeting Tuesday, November 25^th at 7:00 P.M.

AGENDA:

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

ROLL CALL: MISTY L. DEGROAT – CITY CLERK/CHAMBERLAIN

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD -AGENDA ITEMS ONLY

1. Resolve to approve the meeting minutes from the November 18, 2025, Council Meeting.
2. Resolve to approve write-offs for uncollected water, sewer, and garbage charges for City-owned properties.
3. Resolve to authorize the City Clerk/Chamberlain to advertise for a Public Hearing relative to the Proposed 2026 General Fund Budget.
4. Resolve to approve a rate increase for Sanitation Rates.
5. 2026 Budget Resolution- Sanitation.
6. Resolve to enter into Executive Session.
7. Resolve to reconvene from Executive Session.

OPEN COMMENT PERIOD

8. Adjournment

Print this entry