OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) – Ogdensburg’s city manager is touting recent financial successes as officials outline ways to keep the books trending in the right direction.
Over the last five years, Ogdensburg’s fund balance has sharply increased.
The city is expected to have more than $6 million in its general fund when they close the books on the past fiscal year.
It’s a jump of almost $5 million in five years.
“We managed to do the things that we set out to do,” city manager Stephen Jellie said, “which was stabilize our financial strength.”
This was one of many figures shown to councillors at Monday night’s city council meeting.
Jellie says the city could be bringing in even more money if it takes a look at tax-exempt properties.
The city collects property tax on less than half of properties within its jurisdiction.
He says he wants to make sure all tax-exempt properties are operating properly.
“We have some areas in the city that I’m concerned, groups that bought property that are getting an exemption because they have the status,” he said, “but if the property is not being used in direct support or for the mission, then the city will look at providing tax bills to those properties.”
Jellie says the city will begin a reassessment this year with potential for changes coming in 2024.
The city is also beginning to collect a portion of its own sales tax Tuesday. It’s also continuing to push for home rule legislation, which would allow it to collect a larger share of sales tax
But Jellie says there are recommendations on the table the city may want to look at like a paid, on-call firefighter reserve or studying to see if the city should move to a town form of government.
“We’ll find ourselves at the edge of a cliff, trying to make an immediate decision to fix the problem that has been in front of us for 20-plus years,” he said.
To get to this point, the city has had to eliminate 40 jobs.
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