Oswego Council Approves ‘Boring’ Budget

OSWEGO – At its meeting Monday night, the Common Council unanimously passed “a rather boring budget.”

The council voted 6-0-1 (Councilor Ron Tesoriero was excused) to approve Mayor Billy Barlow’s 2020 proposed budget. At $45,210,488, it is a decrease from the current budget of $46,052,604.

The spending plan for 2020 holds the line on taxes, calling for no increases to any taxes or fees, the mayor said Monday night.

The tax rate is $15.33 per $1,000 in assessed value.

Previous administrations have used funds from the city reserves in order to not raise taxes, he said. The 2020 budget doesn’t use any of the city’s general fund to balance the budget, the mayor said.

The mayor said “it was kind of a boring budget.”

“However, it’s a culmination of years of hard work,” he said. “It’s literally a year-round process.”

The mayor recognized Deb Coad, city chamberlain, for helping craft the budget.

He also singled out department heads Tom Kells (DPW), Fire Chief Randy Griffin and Police Chief Tory DeCaire for the dramatic reductions in overtime in their departments.

“And, really thanks to all the department heads in general. Every department has an impact in the city budget. We’ve all had to give a little. We’ve all had to work harder It just goes ro show how we are streamlining every department,” Barlow said. “It really is a team effort/”

He added that he was proud that after reviewing the tentative budget, the council didn’t offer a single amendment.

“This is my fourth budget and as the mayor said, it is pretty boring,” said Council President Rob Corradino. “The mayor did a great job.”

Years ago, it seemed like the budgets all raised taxes, he said.

“But, under this mayor and with the help of the government, they ask questions. For example, they ask, why are you doing something like this?’ And most of the time the answer is. ‘we have been doing that way for years,’” he said.

But now, city government is doing things differently, he added.

He thanked everyone for their hard work on the budget.

“It would have been easy to make a cut here or there just for the sake of making a cut. But we took a hard look at the mayor’s proposal, discussed it with the department heads and could not find anything to cut further.”

• Continued reduction in OFD, OPD, DPW overtime

• No tax or fee increases

• Continued investment in City buildings and equipment

• Restore city engineer position

• New facility for Oswego YMCA Skate Park and Recreation Center

• $40,000 investment for technology upgrades