Tiffin looking toward city’s future

ONEIDA, N.Y. » Jason Tiffin wants to work on the here and now to better Oneida’s future.

“When it comes down to it, I look at my children and I look at the city’s children and I ask them ‘Is there anything here for you to do? Anything for the future’?,” he said. “They look at me with a blank stare and there’s really nothing anymore.”

Tiffin said things in Oneida are not the same as they used to be and he wants to give kids today a reason to come back to the city, whether it’s to settle down or start a business.

Running on the Conservative ticket, Tiffin wants to improve the city while putting as little burden on the taxpayer as possible.

“Nobody wants to have their taxes raised, I don’t care who you are,” Tiffin said. “I’m a tax paying citizen, so I understand how it feels when they want to raise your taxes. When your city officials have certain ideas and they’re just their ideas and not everybody’s, then my concerns as a citizen are not being recognized.”

When it comes to the budget, Tiffin will prioritize the city’s needs over its wants, trimming where he can to make sure the funds are there. The last thing Tiffin wants to happen is having to cut employees and raise taxes just to cover essentials.

“We need to bring in businesses to increase the sales tax somehow. That gives us that comfortable line so we have the money we can use to do the different things we need,” he said.

But overall, Tiffin wants to change Oneida for the better.

“I want everybody in the city to think it’s a family atmosphere, no matter what part of the city they’re in,” he said.

Jason Tiffin