Oswego Mayor Explains The 2025 Tax Increase

by Contributor | September 6, 2024 7:02 am

By Jose Hernandez

OSWEGO – The city of Oswego has seen its first tax increase in 8 years. Some Oswego residents may feel disgruntled due to the increase. Residents may feel like they have received the short end of the stick, having their property values increased as well as additional taxes from the city. Mayor Robert Corradino says that although no one wants to have their taxes increased, it was necessary for the current budget.

“We did our due diligence and reduced it by over $7 and a half million dollars, and there wasn’t much more to cut, and given it’s been eight years and was it only a modest 3.63%, I thought it was an acceptable outcome,” said Corradino. The question Corradino wants to ask citizens is “what is the same cost as eight years ago?” Oswego had an $8 million shortfall between revenue and expenses, and Corradino worked hard to cut down the deficits as much as possible. “I was expecting a shortfall because last year, while I was on the council, we used $4 million of the general fund to offset any tax increase,” said Corradino.

Part of the shortfall was $4 million dollars taken out of Oswego’s general fund last year to avoid a tax increase. After Corradino cuts, there was still about a $600,000 deficit. That deficit made it necessary to increase taxes. The council was able to cut an additional $175,000 at a workshop held on the budget. Among the cuts were snowplows and trucks from DPW, a police truck and a couple of police vehicles for OPD, a truck for OFD, cuts to animal control, as well as other miscellaneous cuts.

“No one wants their taxes to go up,” said Corradino, “I had a bunch of people working on this, and they helped me craft a budget that did not have a major tax increase.” Corradino believes that everyone involved did their due diligence and that this is the best possible outcome. “It’s unfortunate that some people got a tax increase because of the assessment, and then a modest increase because of the budget increase, but we did our, we did our due diligence,” said Corradino.

“Not only did I cut things from the budget, but I found ways to increase revenue,” said Corradino.  Oswego owns a hydroelectric plant. The city has invested millions of dollars in the last 4 or 5 years to upgrade the facility. Due to these upgrades, Corradino was able to increase its revenue projections. “Next year we will be able to sell electricity on the retail market, right now we are selling on the wholesale market,” said Corradino. This will see a large increase in the plant’s revenue projections.

Corradino wants people to have hope for the 2026 budget. “Because we didn’t use any of the general funds on the 2025, that means the 2026 budget will be starting at an even point,” said Corradino. Corradino also believes that after having his first budget as mayor, he is better prepared for future budgets. “I know more about the budget now than I ever did in 8 years on the city council. I always did my job as a councilor going through the budget, but there is just another level of experience that you get as a mayor,” said Corradino. “We’re in a better position now.”

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/oswego-mayor-explains-the-2025-tax-increase/

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