The City Of Fulton By The Numbers

by Contributor | February 16, 2016 7:15 am

To The Editor:
There has been some up-roar over my suggestion that it may be time to dissolve the city we all grew up in and love.

Here are some of the numbers and facts and opinion.

14 years ago:
2 – major manufacturers – fact
1 – Hospital – fact
2 – swimming pools – fact
1 – lake (swimmable – fishable) – estimate
13,000 – population – estimate
10.00 per thousand taxes – estimate
No flat rate water usage fee – fact
Full water department – fact
Full DPW – fact
Full manning at City Hall (office) – fact
2 – fire stations – fact
Full public safety departments (fire and police) – Required and needed
Today:
1 – major manufacture (for how long?) – fact
0 – hospitals – fact
0 – swimming pools – fact
0 – lake (that is swimmable) – fact
11,000 – population – estimate
20.00 per thousand taxes – fact
Now have a flat rate water usage fee (+usage) – fact
Minimal manning for water department – fact
Minimal manning for DPW
Minimal office staff (City Hall) – fact
2 – fire stations – fact
Full manning for public safety (fire and police) – required and needed

Now these are all facts some estimated some actual but still they are facts.

Now for my opinion.

In order to get out of this situation (3 million dollar costs) we would have to add around 1,500 new houses, or 3 or 4 major manufacturers (remember they usually get PIOLT agreements, less taxes paid – jobs yes) just so we wouldn’t have to keep raising taxes and fees.

It is proven that if you don’t increase your tax base or lower your costs you have to increase the taxes to those in your tax base.

These things would have come to be no matter who was in City Hall but, the fact is that doing the same thing and expecting different results is crazy.

It’s time to try something new and drastic.

City Hall is doing  everything they can think of to balance the budget but, it seems to always come down to raising taxes (as a last resort) or cutting services or cutting  manning of the little services we do have or all of these things.

A feasibility study must be done, funded by a grant, a committee formed, made up of local business leaders, taxpayers (possibly each ward represented) town representatives (Volney and Granby).

The study may show dissolving the city isn’t possible or needed but, if it does the voters will decide if it will happen.

Legislator Frank Castiglia

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/the-city-of-fulton-by-the-numbers/

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