What to do with the Bed Tax?

There has been a lot of discussion both at the Legislature meeting on April 9^th, as well as in the paper about spending $35,000 on “wrapping” a NASCAR entry in Oswego County info as a way of getting our name out nationally.

There are those that say it’s a “small” price to pay for such national attention. There are those that say this money could be better spent on some other way of advertising what kind of vacation and entertainment options there are within thew county.

There are a few other things I want people to think about. $45,000 to $55,000 is the average annual salary of someone living in Oswego County.

Tim Stahl saying that it comes out of a $785,000 budget funded by the “Bed Tax” does not make that number look more reasonable. Citing another project previously that cost $49,000 with Dennis Quaid, without statistics to show the impact of that investment does not make that number look more reasonable.  Having the “racing suit” left for the county to display for the public does not make that number look more reasonable.

What is the cost of the fishing charter mentioned at the legislature meeting? Who is going? Will the public be invited? Will all the legislators be invited to meet the driver and his team? Who is paying for that? Aren’t we supposed to be fiscally responsible today?

Finally, I would like to know how Tourism knows their advertising projects are working. When you look at the Tourism budget for the last few years it seems erratic.

2024 Actual Tourism Budget – $467,905

2025 Adopted Tourism Budget – $328,474

2025 Actual Tourism Budget – $812,576

2026 Department Tourism Budget – $319,405

2026 Budget Officer Tourism Budget – $320,081

2026 Tentative Tourism Budget – $320,081

2026 Adopted Tourism Budget – $319,922

In 2025 did we get our money’s worth out of a $500,000 difference between the adopted budget and the Actual budget? Just because the money is there, do we need to spend it on advertising?

In closing I think with all the conversations recently about the homeless and how poor the county is overall maybe we could see if some money could actually be used to provide beds for people that don’t have them.

Jim Cannon

Fulton, NY

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