OSWEGO COUNTY – Thursday night, Oswego residents packed the County Legislator Meeting. Many opposed Local Law #5, which would have increased public officials’ pay, most notably Sheriff Don Hilton. This law was a part of the 2026 County of Oswego Budget.
The increases would be for Clerk Terry Wilbur, Treasurer Kevin Gardner, and Hilton. If the law is passed, they will receive 8% increases in pay in 2026 and 2027, and a 5% increase in 2028.
These increases will see the Sheriffs’ pay raised from $126,760 this year to $155,246 by 2028. Wilbur and Gardner received $104,333 this year and will receive $127,779.
Each county legislator will see a steady increase in pay over 3 years, from $16,094 this year to $17,586 in 2028.
7th Ward’s councillor Christopher Squitieri was the lone supporter of the increase during the public session. He said that national politics has no place in this local issue. He commended the sheriff, saying he’s doing a good job in making Oswego safe.
Squitieri thanked Border Patrol. “They do their job keeping people safe from illegal, undocumented immigrants committing crimes in our county,” said Squitieri. Sheriff Don Hilton also spoke at the meeting in defense of his pay increase.
It should be noted that Sheriff Hilton is currently under investigation for civil rights violations. Allegedly, Sheriff officers were reporting people they pulled over who could not speak English to ICE.
In direct opposition, Organize Oswego’s Kyle Dzintars staunchly disagreed with Oswego feeling safe, saying that black and brown students do not feel the same way. It also did not sit well with Dzintars that County Legislators were voting on their own pay increase.
Resident Sunil Ram feels that many minorities in the community feel unsafe with increased ICE presence. “People are upset because these are human beings first and foremost, they’re citizens, and they aren’t getting answers,” said Ram. “Even with the Cato raids, it feels like purposeful misinformation from Border Patrol.”
Many speakers expressed dissatisfaction with the Republican-led County Legislature. Multiple speakers commented on how next year’s voting will be affected by this dissatisfaction.
Resident Chris Weisenburger gave comments before the vote, saying, “Today you voted to give yourself a raise for the 10th year in a row.” Weisenburger believes County Legislator positions are a part-time job and that Oswego County has too many seats. She cited Onondaga County, which has a higher population but fewer representatives.
Weisenburger feels there was a lack of transparency regarding the budget, noting that the public was not part of the dialogue as much as they should have been.
The Oswego County Legislature reduced the generic property tax rate to $4.87 per $1,000 of assessed value, a 5.4% decrease from last year. The Oswego County Tentative 2026 Budget is $277,450,464. It includes a General Fund real property tax levy of $51,253,157 and a full value of the County of $9,966,980,065
The budget increased by 3.9%. 49%, or $25,251,590 of the general fund, is just one NYS mandate, Medicaid. The mandated Workers Compensation tax levy is $1,892,430, and the mandated Community College tax levy is $5,039,000.
The total of the General Fund, Workers Compensation, and Community College property tax levies is a 5.9% increase, and does not comply with the $55,480,002 cap. The 2026 draft tax levy is $2,704,585 above the cap.
The budget listed 4 primary drivers of the situation:
1. Mandated NYS Retirement increase of $1,994,533, or 21.1%.
2. Mandated Health Insurance increase of $2,192,143, or 13.7%.
3. Contractual labor increase of $3,549,366, or 4.4%.
4. NYS Tax Cap is limited to only a $560,432 increase this year, or 1%, because higher payments gained during tax agreement negotiations with Constellation Nuclear count against us in the State’s property tax cap formula.
The budget gave some examples of factors driving up costs.
• The Office for the Aging is seeing increased costs due to the loss of federal funds and an increase in the costs of the senior meals service.
• Electricity costs have increased and impacted the Buildings & Grounds Department.
• Each year, we must move UFB into the mandated cost of Assigned Counsel. This budget funds the department at its historical full cost, complying with NYS Indigent Legal Services guidelines.
• NYS mandated Preschool Special Education services have increased again, this time $763,247, or 22%.
• Liability insurance has increased $200,000 due to county infrastructure projects such as building and property acquisitions, renovation of the Bunner Street Complex, and the broadband network.
Next year’s budget official starts on December 12th.
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Thought we were putting in all these solar farms to help cuts cost of electricity? Maybe no more building permits for these eye sores until the electricity is used specifically to run county offices. We should be at zero cost for gas or electricity. Install all those stupid electric heat pumps the democrats of NYS think are so efficient. Convert every county vehicle to electric and charge from the solar farms. Thought the one by Bristol hill was supposed to feed county property and save all of us some serious money. You know what democrats and republicans have in common?? Neither of them know the truth and are only in politics for money. Make all government positions unpaid like school boards and let’s see what happens.