Oswego trustees coalesce on 2% levy cut, punt detailed grocery-tax/water-credit decision for follow-up meeting

Finance Director Andrea told trustees the village was projecting a roughly $1,000,000 general-fund surplus in the 2026 draft budget and outlined several options for its use: transfer to capital, an increased contribution to the senior center, a one-time resident utility credit (estimated at $50 per account) or a recurring credit built into water bills using grocery-tax proceeds, or additional payment to the police pension fund to reduce the unfunded liability. She emphasized timing constraints around the property-tax levy but said the larger surplus-allocation debate could be continued when more precise figures are available.

"The budget as it's presented assumes a 2% rate decrease," Andrea said, showing a levy scenario and the fiscal trade-offs of any additional change. Trustees asked how changes would affect the police pension contribution, bond sizing, water-bill impacts and public perception.

Trustee Novy expressed fiscal prudence: "I do not think we should touch our levy this year... I wanna make sure the police pension is going to be funded." Trustee Koenig and Trustee Hughes favored a visible tax-rate reduction for resident optics; Trustee Koenig noted that a modest rate decrease could signal the board is listening to residents. After broad discussion the board reached an operational consensus to include a 2% reduction in the property-tax levy in the draft and to hold a detailed follow-up on the grocery-tax/water-credit options at a Committee of the Whole or staff-reports session on Nov. 4.

Staff outlined options for applying grocery-tax revenue, which staff estimated could provide roughly $1,000,000 a year, and presented an estimate that using $600,000 to fund a water-bill credit would translate to a small per-bill credit (Andrea and trustees discussed a rough $8-per-bill figure as an example). Trustees discussed competing priorities (debt service, capital fund, senior-services) and the communications challenge of explaining any temporary credit versus a long-term change.

No final appropriation was adopted at the Oct. 25 session; trustees directed staff to return with a narrower set of options and detailed fiscal modeling for the Nov. 4 discussion.

Action recorded at the meeting: the board approved a procedural motion at the start to allow Trustee Jack Cooper to attend electronically (roll call recorded).