Oswego Common Council Unable To Vote On Budget Due To Tax Levy Issues

OSWEGO – The Common Council was unable to vote on Mayor Billy Barlow’s 2022 Operating Budget for the City of Oswego on Monday night at the city’s Common Council meeting due to some issues with the tax levy and general municipal laws associated with it.

While the Common Council seemingly approved of the budget, as it only had two amendments according to Barlow during his “Off the Cuff” video, it was unable to vote on the matter since the tax levy is close to increasing by 3%, according to Common Council President Rob Corradino.

The tax levy is the portion of the budget made up of property taxes and helps balance the budget. To calculate it, according to Corradino, one must subtract the city’s income from the total budget and the remaining money is collected from residents as property tax. Because of this increase from 2021, the city must hold a public hearing on the budget.

“It comes down to that we’ve increased the tax levy by almost 3% and because of that we have to go through this process. If we weren’t increasing the tax levy, we wouldn’t have to do this,” Corradino said.

Corradino added that the exact tax levy increased from $12.46 million to $12.83 million, which is an increase of 2.97%. The maximum is the aforementioned 3%, which comes from General Municipal Law 3-c of the Code of the City of Oswego.

“The budget as proposed is under the tax cap levy amount, however, it is close,” City Attorney Kevin Caraccioli said. “If there is a need to adjust that or the state looks at it and determines that it exceeds the tax cap limit, the way to overcome that is to adopt the tax cap override legislation. The local law has to be adopted before you pass the budget.”

It is important to note that while the tax levy did increase, the property tax rate did not. The levy increased due to raising property values. The city must give the public five days notice for the hearing, so it will be on Wednesday, September 22 at 6:45p.m.. Once that is complete and the law is passed, the Common Council can vote on the budget itself.

In addition to the budget, the Common Council voted on 20 resolutions, passing all of them unanimously. These include:

• No. 289 to approve use of public space to John Fitzgibbons in order to host a block party at East Mohawk Street on Sunday, September 26
• No. 290 to approve use of public space to the Girl Scouts for a Back-to-School Celebration at East Park to be held on Saturday, September 18
• No. 293 to accept a donation of a memorial bench from Patricia Bucher in memory of her mother and step-father Joyce and R. Jack Paul
• No. 294 to accept a donation from the Sunrise Rotary Club for the maintenance of the Peace Garden
• No. 297 to authorize the Mayor to sign Change Order No. 13 with Patricia Electric, Inc. for the Eastside Wastewater Treatment Plant Asset Management Plan IMprovement Project for $6,529.30
• No. 298 to authorize the City Chamberlain to complete a transfer of funds in the amount of $20,000 for various IT projects
• No. 301 to authorize the City Chamberlain to complete a budget amendment in the amount of $11,000 for field tarps for the Legends Softball Complex
• No. 302 to authorize the City Chamberlain to complete a budget amendment in the amount of $5,900 for interior repairs on the third floor of City Hall

Resolution No. 299 was another significant one that was approved, as it moved funds from the promotions and tourism account to the events budget. This brought $40,000 to the account and will help the city continue to host events throughout 2021, including the Christmas tree lighting. 

All Common Council meetings are held the second and fourth Monday of every month. The next meeting will be held on Monday, September 27 at 7:15 p.m. To view the meeting agenda, please click here.

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