OSWEGO – After a handful of small tweaks, the Common Council unanimously approved the 2019 spending plan for the Port City.
The budget contains the first reduction in city property taxes for city residents in 20 years.
Mayor Billy Barlow’s budget proposal reduced the general tax rate from $15.67 per thousand dollars of assessed value in 2018 to $15.33 in 2019, saving approximately $26 per year on an $80,000 house.
The council’s reductions Monday night trimmed it to $15.28.
It goes from a 2.11% reduction in city property taxes in the 2019 Operating Budget, to a 2.41%.
The mayor said he appreciates the help of the council and the hard work of the department heads in moving the city forward.
The council approved amendments that increased and decreased certain areas of the overall budget. The result was about $48,000 in total reductions.
“I support these amendments that were made tonight,” he said. “We have the funding and resources to move the city forward.”
Council Vice President Kevin Hill echoed the mayor’s sentiments.
Sales tax is a large source of revenue for the city and is getting a boost from new stores opening and additional festivals and events in Oswego, according to Council President Robert Corradino.
“A lot of good things are happening,” he said. “We did move the needle a little bit (increasing reductions). But, it was a pretty tight budget to begin with. We went through it; we had the budget for about 10 days, all the councilors went through it, we had the budget meetings. We looked. I’m telling you, we looked real hard and it was hard to find any really big savings. What we took out will not hurt our momentum.”
Among the amendments made Monday night were:
• A $20,000 decrease in snow removal
• A $5,000 increase for parks materials and supplies
• A $4,000 decrease in the City Clerk’s contracted services
• A $4,000 increase in Law contracted services
• A $2,000 increase in Law contracted services
• A $2,000 decrease in Sealer contracted services
• A $25,000 decrease in Tourism contracted services
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How much did we save from National Grid whit all the lights being out in the city??? We could save a whole lot as more and more lights are going out every week and no one seems to care….