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Legal Notices

The Town of Otisco – Since 1806

The Town is situated approximately 21 miles south of Syracuse, New York.

The area in which the Town is located had been occupied for centuries by the Onondaga People, one of the original 5 nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy in northeast North America.

The name “Otisco” may have been derived from the Iroquois name for Nine Mile Creek, Us-te-ke, meaning “bitter-nut-hickory”. At least one older map, published in 1825, has the name spelled as “Ostisco”. The name may also have been derived from the word ostickney, meaning “waters much dried away”, or from the Onondaga word ostick, meaning “the water is low”.

The area became part of the former Military Tract of Central New York State which consisted of nearly 2 million acres of land that was set aside to compensate New York’s soldiers after their participation in the Revolutionary War (American War of Independence). The Town was first settled by outsiders around 1798, and permanent settlement began around 1801. The Town of Otisco was formed in 1806 from parts of the towns of Marcellus, Pompey and Tully.

The Town also encompasses the Hamlets of Otisco and Amber, the latter being situated on the north shore of Otisco Lake, which is the easternmost of New York’s eleven Finger Lakes.

The Town’s picturesque countryside, with its rolling hills and mountainous terrain, is rural, dotted with homes, family farms and small businesses.

There were 2,368 residents and 924 households within the Town according to the 2020 census. In contrast to its relatively small population, the Town of Otisco is the 4th largest Town in Onondaga County in terms of land size, covering approximately 31.2 square miles with approximately 34.40 miles of Town roads. The Town Government consists of a Town Board, Town Clerk, Town Justice Court, Town Highway Department, Code Enforcement Officer, Animal Control Officer, Tax Assessors, Tax Collector, Attorney for the Town and Town Financial Advisor.

A Directory of the Town’s Municipal Departments can be found in the Municipal Directory on this website at townofotisco.com/services/

Cell Tower Update

The cell tower is now operational. For those of you with Verizon as a carrier, you should be getting a stronger signal and cell coverage.

Thanks Glenn

As many of you know the town has been pursuing having a cell tower installed within the towns borders to address our rather lackluster cell coverage. This effort has been ongoing for a little over a year and I believe we are getting close to construction. Early in the siting process the town considered numerous locations including the towns property, the Otisco fire house and private land. The final location ended up being the site of the old landfill on Canty Hill Road near the pipeline. The proposed tower is a lattice design and 192′ tall. My recent discussions with the company managing the project said the permitting is completed. National Grid has been contacted to have a planner do a site survey as the next step. To do so they require the driveway to be installed which will be completed soon. Once this is accomplished construction will begin. It’s my understanding the hardware is on hand so there shouldn’t be any lead time issues. There is at least one carrier already on board (Verizon) and interest from another. Current estimate to complete is late summer. I’ll update this as I get more information. If you have any questions please contact me at ghall@townofotisco.com

Thanks

Update: Driveway application has been submitted. Construction planned for August/September. Verizon submitted a permit for installing antennas.

Update 10/16/24: Construction now planned to commence the end of October. The 911 address has been issued. The building permit has been updated.

Update 11/14/24: New start date I am told is December 16.

12/19/24: Foundation poured

12/23/24: Assembly

12/31/24:

1/9/25:

Update May 7, 2025:

Currently waiting for National Grid to run power to the site

Update May 21, 2025:

National Grid installed the poles and transformer

The tower company installed the antennas

Update July 16, 2025

The site has power hooked up and the perimeter fence is installed. The comm shelter location is prepped and ready for install. Verizon is the first cell service provider to lease space. Hopefully the site will be online within a month.

Update 8-14-2025

Verizon has some equipment parts that are on back order. Current projected time frame for the site to be active is late September now.

Drive-thru Taxes

The Tax Collector now has a drive through window located on the South side of the Town Hall (right side as you are facing the Town Hall) at 1924 Barker St., Otisco, NY 13159 for the transaction of tax related business during the Tax Collector’s business hours (please see Tax Notice under Legal Notices on this website for the Tax Collector’s hours.