City property taxes may rise

Repair cost rising at city’s Waste Water Treatment Plant

ONEIDA >> The public will have an opportunity to weigh in on the proposed 2014 city budget the Common Council meeting Tuesday night.

Next year’s proposed $17.91 million budget includes a 2.02 percent increase in the city’s property tax levy. Property tax rates are set to increase 1.65 percent. Inside district homeowners would pay $7.81 per $1,000 of assessed value in city taxes, or about $781 per year for a home valued at $100,000; outside district taxpayers will face a total $6.96 tax rate, including fire and hydrant taxes that are set to remain at the same rate as this year.

Related to discussions at last Tuesday’s special meeting about next year’s budget, the council will consider an email from former city engineer and current city resident Jim Bacher regarding the partial payment of salaries from the city’s sewer fund. Bacher agrees that it’s appropriate for the city to fund a portion of the salaries of the city engineer, technology support techni- cian, comptroller and DPW employees using the sewer or water funds. He has questioned the council’s mechanism of justifying and quantifying how much of those funds should be used.

Without specifically identifying the work done by those employees to support water or sewer operations, Bacher says there’s no way to determine how much the department should chip in. Without that justification, transferring funds from the water and sewer funds would be in violation of city code. At least $75,000 is proposed to be transferred from the sewer fund to the general fund next year to support those salaries.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the council will consider an addendum to an agreement with SCRIBA Electrical, of Oswego, which was brought in to evaluate and repair flood damage the Waste Water Treatment Plant. The initial agreement appropriated $531,000 for the work, but material and labor costs have already exceeded that. The addendum will provide up to $100,000 more to complete the work. The New York State Office of Emergency Management has said that work will be eligible for federal FEMA reimbursement.

The council will continue to move money around to pay for flood expenses. More than $650 will come out of contingency and another $100,000 from the fund balance to cover additional costs. Other budget transfers will take money from the law litigation account to various other law accounts to cover attorney fees.

In other business, the council will consider:

Receive monthly reports from the chamberlain, city clerk, planning and development director, fire chief, police chief and recreation department.

Adding unpaid sewer and water bills onto property owners tax bills for next year.

Applying for a Community Development Block Grant and paying River Street Planning and Development, of Troy, $2,500 to write the application.

The council is scheduled to meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.