Write a commentMonday night marked the first Oswego Common Council meeting since the proposed 2024 property tax assessments were mailed to taxpayers last week.
As expected, numerous city residents and property owners attended this week's meeting, and more than a dozen homeowners signed up to address the Mayor and Common Council during the Public Session.
Mayor Rob Corradino opened the podium to comments from the public at 7:15 p.m. Prior to the first speaker being called to the microphone, the Mayor read a prepared statement. He said that there had not been a citywide reassessment done in more than 25 years, and that the Common Council voted to enter into a citywide reassessment of all properties in June of 2022. The City sought bids, and accepted the one from GAR Associates, LLC to perform the task of assessing the city's approximately 7,000 properties.
The Mayor further stated that the goal of the reassessment was to place the taxable value of each property at or near the price that the house could be sold for in the current real estate market. In some cases properties were paying less than their fair share of taxes, while in other cases there were properties paying more.
The Mayor said he fully understands why those in attendance were upset, and that those whose property taxes will be lowered or remain the same were likely not among the ones who came to tonight's meeting. He said that approximately 46% of properties in the city would either see their taxes remain the same as 2023's or be reduced. Another approximately 25% would see an increase of $500 or less in 2024.The nearly 30% (2,513 properties) remaining, however would see their 2024 taxes go up more than $500 - significantly more in some cases.
The Mayor went on to say that he would pledge to maintain a tax rate that will pay for the services and infrastructure that the city needs, as well as to provide for improvements to facilities such as city-owned High Dam and the recent Consent Decree which upgraded the municipal waste and stormwater removal systems. Following a proposed 87% tax increase in 2014, city voters put into place a cap on budget increases of no more than 5% per year. Corradino said the city has met that cap each year and pledged to do so again in 2024.
He finished by saying that he and all seven councilors were city property owners,and that no favors were received. He urged that those taxpayers who feel they have been unfairly treated avail themselves of the grievance procedure that is in place, and that the city assessor has provided directions on how to accomplish that. He said the City is on solid financial footing, and that the reassessment will help it to remain so.
Following Mayor Corradino's remarks, he opened the floor to those who had signed up to address the Council. First to speak was former Council candidate Gary Thompson, who questioned whether he and his family would be able to afford to continue living in the city of Oswego following the citywide reassessment. He also pointed out that according to data the city had provided, it seems as if over 80% of commercial parcels would be receiving lowered assessments. He felt that the tax burden was being unfairly shifted to homeowners instead.
Bill Myer, a resident of Singleton Street, noted that real estate prices in the city skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the market was artificially inflated. He suggested that this was not the correct time for the reassessment to be done, as he hoped that home values would once again return to more normal levels.
Cindy Snyder from Eisenhower Drive said that the assessment of her property had more than doubled, and commented that it wasn't right to put this onto the city's taxpayers all at once. She suggested reassessing the properties in each of the city's seven wards in separate years, spreading the burden over time to ease the financial impact.
Joseph Mezza of Talisman Terrace spoke about inconsistencies in the reassessment process. He said that on Arcadia Avenue there are 12 townhouses, 11 of which are identical. He said that each of the 11 identical homes had received different assessments, varying by as much as $30,000.
Former Mayor John Gosek Sr. spoke next, making the suggestion that the Council should rescind the reassessment and leave the tax levy as it is. He said that the reassessment was not required by the state nor requested by the taxpayers, and that the city has been able to meet all its financial obligations using the existing assessment rolls without raising taxes for the past eight years. He called upon the Council to consider a rolling reassessment process as suggested by Ms. Snyder.
Michael Callaghan of West 4th Street noted that though the letters taxpayers received stated that these were proposed assessment levels, "...it sounds as if this is a done deal, and that scares me."
Raymond Engelke of East Utica Street said, "If someone wants to buy my house for the $60,000 higher assessed price, I'll sell it to them tonight!"
A recurring theme among other speakers was that GAR Associates did not physically visit any of the residential properties, but relied strictly on data and algorithms to perform the reassessments. Ruth Stevens of West Seneca St. said, "I don't mind paying taxes, as they pay for the services we need. I do question why GAR didn't visit the properties. How can they assess what they didn't see?"
Following the final speaker of more than a dozen in the public session, Mayor Corradino again urged those who were concerned about their assessments to avail themselves of the grievance process.
The Mayor then called to order the regular Common Council meeting.
