2021 Budget Adopted Thursday Evening –

OSWEGO COUNTY – Oswego County legislators adopted a 2021 budget Thursday night, Dec. 10, that lowers the generic tax rate $7.69 to $7.48 per $1,000 of assessed property value.  The overall budget is reduced by $4.9 million.

Oswego County Legislature Chairman James Weatherup, District 9, Central Square, said legislators considered the financial hardships that many businesses and property owners have experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and strived to develop a responsible budget that did not raise taxes.

Since March, the Legislature has taken several steps to stabilize finances, cover unexpected COVID-19-related expenses, and prepare for decreased state aid and tax revenues. The Legislature enacted purchasing and hiring freezes and transferred funds from each department to a designated contingency account to create savings. All departments of county government cut back on spending.

“These measures helped to stabilize the county’s financial position going into 2021,” said Chairman Weatherup. “We made every effort to control spending and protect the taxpayers. Many households and many businesses are still struggling to make ends meet, and we don’t know how long it will take for the economy to rebound.”

The 2021 budget of $213,056,180 in appropriations includes a real property tax levy of $45,569 335 and a full value of the County of $6,089,431,969, which produces a generic tax rate of $7.48 per $1,000 dollars of assessed value. 

“All county departments did a great job of re-prioritizing their budgets to meet the challenges of the pandemic, while continuing their core services with sensitivity to the economic hard times many taxpayers are experiencing,” said County Administrator and Budget Officer Philip Church.

The spending plan keeps all services intact and does not use any of the county’s unappropriated fund balance.  

The actual property tax rate in each municipality will vary depending on the state’s equalization rate for the municipality, and the municipality’s direct costs of workers’ compensation and community college.