Reassessment by Gar Associates to Stick

by Contributor | June 25, 2024 10:05 am

By Jose Hernandez,

OSWEGO – On June 24^th, the common council had their 2^nd meeting of the month. Council Gosek was hoping this was not the end of hope for rescinding the GAR Associates appraisal. The new tax rule will go into effect July 1^st.

Councilman Gosek asked to speak after Mayor Corradino gave his Mayoral report and was told to wait until the end of the meeting to start. After approving 11 resolutions, Gosek was given the floor. He began by apologizing about being misinformed about there being another vote, as no resolution to rescind was brought up during the votes.

Gosek explained that the current climate of Oswego having to pay such heighten taxes means that residents will be paying more than their fair share. Gosek said that he and Councilman Vanucchi did their best to rescind but fell short. Although not getting the end goal, they both feel at least proud that they were there to help the people they represented when they were asking for help.

2 Oswego residents came to speak on the floor regarding the tax assessment. The 1^st was Mary Louise, an Oswego resident. Mary Louise believes that she ended up being over assessed due to the neighborhood she lives in. She claims that she will be having an assessor appraise her home and said that City Assessor Kevin Hill will be honoring that assessment.

Chance spoke on the floor about his perceived lack of transparency when it comes to Oswego local government. Chance feels that the council has been giving him the run around when it comes to finding a solution. He claims to have spoken to numerous people in local government, and not receiving a proper response.

Gosek and residents of Oswego feel like the working class and people on fixed income are being stiffed. What’s worse is that they feel like they have been left unheard by the rest of the council. Gosek says everyone believed the tax assessment was flawed and implied it may have been for reasons that didn’t have the residents of Oswego’s best interests at heart. Gosek says that the government has let people down, a shared sentiment of a good chunk of Oswego residents.

“Our city charter section C.1825 reads as follows – the common council shall have no power or authority to rescind or annual any lawful assessment or to refund or remit any lawful tax or assessment or to compromise any lawful basic tax or sale. Period. Thank you,” said City Attorney Kevin Caraccioli.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/reassessment-by-gar-associates-to-stick/

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