Mayor Corradino Presents City of Oswego Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget; Common Council Votes to Table Local Law on Property Tax Levy

OSWEGO – At last night’s Common Council Meeting, Mayor Robert A. Corradino presented the Mayor’s Proposed City of Oswego Operating Budget for 2027 to the members of the Common Council with a 2.97% tax levy increase.

The Mayor addressed the Common Council during the meeting with the following message: Members of the Common Council, The proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget for the City of Oswego, New York, is hereby submitted for your consideration.

This budget is the third City budget I have constructed since becoming mayor in January of 2024 and my eleventh including my eight years on the Council. Since 2024, we’ve followed a strategy of investing in our infrastructure and maintaining city services, all while being fiscally responsible to our taxpayers. We must not neglect city streets, sidewalks, aging equipment or buildings but at the same time we need to be smart on the way we pay for them.

Last year I was able to propose a 2026 budget with a zero-tax increase and the 2025 budget had a modest 3.63% increase. Providing a zero tax increase every year is a difficult task considering all the factors that go into a city budget. This year’s Operating Budget is comprised of the following: 42% personnel, 29% employee benefits, 20% contractual, 8% debt and 1% equipment. The cost of everything has risen in the last 12 months.

Increases in salaries, utilities, insurance, fuel, healthcare, retirement and materials have all been contributing factors for the 2027 budget. Every year, just like your personal finances, costs never seem to go down and we need to cover those costs with a balanced city budget.

The strategic investments we have made in the past few years are beginning to provide financial benefits. The money we have spent to upgrade the High Dam has resulted in additional funds that were used to help with the General Fund Operating budget. The power we produced at this hydroelectric generating facility had been sold on the wholesale market in the past. But a recent agreement I signed with NYSERDA will give us the ability to sell power on the retail market because of our new Tier 1 rating. In addition to the sale of power at a substantially higher rate there are Renewable Energy Credits and Power Production credits that will earn increased revenue for the city. This would not have been possible without the money we invested and the plans we have developed in the past several years. Another investment we recently made was to convert approximately 3,100 city street lights to LED fixtures. This one change will reduce our yearly costs from about $800,000 to $304,000, a reduction of 62%.

Thanks to the continued commitment and hard work from all our city employees and key personnel, we were able to control spending by finding inefficiencies, streamlining processes, eliminating waste all while improving services. The 2027 proposed budget will fully fund all services we currently have. At the same time, we’ve had to make many difficult decisions as we crafted the 2027 budget. During my line-by-line analysis of all the department budgets, several questions came to mind. Is this funding request a real need or just a want? Also, if it is a need can we delay or find other sources of funding like grants for it? Those questions were constant reminders of trying to be fiscally responsible to our citizens. A great example of finding alternate sources of funding is the Thursday Concert series at Veterans stage during the summer. Prior to 2025, city tax payers were paying the costs for that event. At my urging we found a grant opportunity with Constellation to sponsor the venue which has saved $50,000 over the past two years. We also receive support from state representatives Senator Chris Ryan and Assemblyman Will Barclay. Recently, Senator Ryan provided $300,000 to the Fire Department to replace air packets for our firefighters. Looking for grant opportunities is an important role for city government because every dollar we receive through grants is less taxpayers are responsible for paying. To that end we hired Saratoga Associates for grant writing and administration in January and they have helped us apply for millions of dollars in grants so far this year.

However, one area of concern is the Sewer Enterprise Fund. The account is trending in a negative direction and the council must make some decisions to help turn the numbers around. I proposed a plan for the fund to the previous council in December of 2025 and earlier this year I tried again with the current council but there has been no substantive movement on this important issue. Developing a plan to stabilize the fund should be a priority for the council for the remainder of this year. The council cannot continue kicking the can down the road on a solution.

My proposed budget calls for a slight tax levy increase of 2.97% compared to Fiscal Year 2026. The current 2026 tax rate of $10.376 per one thousand of assessed value would increase to $ 10.745 per thousand. Here is how the new rate will affect property owners:

Much of the increase is attributed to retirement costs (13%), healthcare costs (15%), utilities (10%), and contractual raises city wide. Inflationary increases also put pressure on the city budget. As you know, we actually have several budget funds – the Sewer Enterprise Fund, the Water Fund, the High Dam Enterprise Fund and General Operating fund for the rest of the city’s needs for a total of $ 82,966,236 dollars. When I received the initial budget requests from all the departments in early July, we were looking at a much larger budget and an unacceptably huge tax increase. But over the last few months, we have worked hard to overcome this obstacle and provide a fair and balanced budget.

The budget process is a long process that started May 1 when I asked department heads to provide their budgets by June 1. I would like to thank all the department heads who worked on their budgets and who met with me for adjusting their requests so that it reflected the needs of our community but at the same time does not burden our taxpayers. City Chamberlain Deb Coad and her staff were instrumental in compiling all the numbers and I thank them for all their efforts.

The decision is now in the hands of the Oswego Common Council on whether to accept this proposed budget or to amend it by resolution. Any amendments made by the Common Council by resolution to increase or decrease appropriations will affect the proposed tax rate. If any increase in the tax levy equals 5% or more, the amended budget must be presented to a public referendum in the November election per local law. Should the amended budget be voted down in the November election, my proposed budget will become, by default, the 2027

Operating budget. The Common Council will hold a public budget workshop the week of August 17th which will be run by the Budget Commission. I selected the members of this group in January, and it is made up of Councilors Plunkett, who is the chair with seven years of experience, along with new Councilors Myer and Lautensack. Hopefully the council will conclude their review of the budget and it will be ready for a vote at the August 24th Common Council meeting. Any budget amendments must be sent to my office by noon on Thursday August 20th.

And it is after months of hard work and focus that I, Robert A. Corradino, submit the proposed City of Oswego 2027 Operating budget to the Oswego Common Council for consideration. Following the presentation of the budget, one item on the agenda for a Council vote was Resolution 254, to Approve Local Law No. 2 of the Year 2026 – A Local Law Authorizing a Property Tax Levy in Excess of the Limit Established in General Municipal Law §3-c. The General Municipal Law (GML) requires taxing jurisdictions to stay within the state-mandated 2% tax rate increase; however, the same provisions of the GML allow a taxing authority to exceed the 2% tax cap if a local law or resolution is adopted authorizing the exceedance of the tax cap.

It is important to note that aside from the 2% tax cap established by the State of New York, the City Charter provides a mechanism for exceeding a 5% tax rate increase from one year to the next. In the 12 years the 5% cap has been in place, not once has it been tested by sending a budget exceeding 5% to the voters.Adoption of this local law has been annual and longstanding for the City of Oswego. Passing this would be a precautionary measure in case it is needed. It does not indicate a tax increase beyond the cap; the local law allows for a taxing authority to exceed the cap if it becomes unavoidable.

It is important to note that the law must be approved and filed with the state prior to approving the budget in order for it to be in place. It is a state requirement that the adoption of this local law occur before the adoption of a budget with a tax rate that exceeds 2%. Should the City of Oswego not adopt a budget by August 31st, it then gets put to a vote of the general public in November. This is potentially critical because missing the statutory deadline would jeopardize the City’s ability to govern responsibly and uphold fiscal stability. Ensuring the local law is passed and filed before budget adoption is not just a procedural requirement, it is a safeguard for the City’s financial health and operational continuity.

Councilor Thompson made a motion to table voting on this. Councilor Lautensack seconded it, and it passed by a vote of 4-3. Councilor Ashline, Councilor Plunkett and Councilor Kennedy noted nay.

The Budget Commission and Common Council have scheduled a budget workshop for Wednesday, August 19th at 5pm in the Common Council Chambers. Members of the public are welcome to attend and ask questions.